A Palace of Disaster
by Chibi Tsuki
Summary: A young princess meets up with a young prince and experience adventures and pranks together... they end up marrying each other but do they actually 'love' one another? Slight Lime, AU 6x9 fic!!! ::COMPLETED::
1. Teasing the Prince

**A ****Palace**** of ****Disaster******

Chibi Tsuki

Hiya~!!! I'm back! Don't run off! Well for those who are listening *smiles sweetly* I hope you enjoy this new fanfic I have for you. I know I still haven't finished the other one but I 'had' to type it up and give you a X'mas prezzie before I take a break. And come back in 2002!

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**Chapter 1**

Teasing the Prince

Sailing down the long, spiral stairs, the young girl picked up her white and elegant gown, in a hurry to meet her parents. Her father, Celurious Noin, the royal and true-blooded sibling of the king of Italy was attending to some exalted guests for the weekend. He had called for his daughter to appear to these guests and present herself, in a 'proper fashion' like all princesses should.

"Sorry about that Naolan," Celurious apologised immediately after his daughter's display of inappropriate behaviour. "My daughter was rather hasty."

The tall pale-haired man chuckled in a friendly way. "It's alright my dear friend."

"Father, you did tell me to hurry," the raven-haired girl protested. Although she was feeling rather down, she managed to speak in a soft tone. 

Beside her raven-haired father stood a beautiful lady, dressed in a pale coloured gown that covered her white, sparkling shoes. She had a soft, gentle face and stunning amber-coloured hair that reached a little above her elbows, curling at the tips. Addressing her daughter, she whispered, "Lucretzia." Immediately the young girl apologised and took moderate steps towards her mother who gave her a 'smaller steps please!' glare.

"Shall we head inside for some lunch?" Celurious suggested, gesturing politely with his hand as the guests turned and headed for the dining hall. Walking beside him was a young man with short brown hair. He and the one called Naolan seemed pretty much the same height except that he was slightly shorter.

As they sat down, the young duke spotted the girl sitting directly opposite him and observed her beauty. Studying her looks, he noticed her features and the long raven bangs that covered her face partially. She was possibly sixteen or in her early months of being seventeen but he knew for certain that she was several years younger than him. But that didn't affect his constant yet subtle staring. 

Lucretzia giggled as the young gentleman opposite her sipped his wine ever so delicately that it was obvious that he was being foolish. He even lifted his pinky as he held onto the wineglass professionally.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Once the dinner was over, Lucretzia excused herself and rushed up to her room and quickly changed out of her dress which she despised and into a pair of slightly baggy tan trousers and into a loose white long-sleeved top which she had buckled a belt on top of. She even grabbed some plain peasant-like shoes and a hat that resembled Robin Hood's hat. No matter what type of trousers, shirt and hat she wore, she still looked like a boy, especially with her long hair tied into a bun, hidden by the headwear. Her best friend being a young Page often skipped duties and training to be with the young princess in her journeys and adventures within the castle wall.

"Come on Noin," Kievet muttered to his comrade by her last name, leading her to the garden towards a terribly massive tree with branches twice the thickness of a cannon. The spouting twigs supported the impressive weight and size of the emerald green leaves. Albeit the tree was so huge, it didn't supply any flower but instead, apples. Appealing, lush red apples, enough to feed an entire village.

A spark appeared in the young Princess' eye as she admired the branches more than the actual fruits. "I'll see you up there, Page Kievet!" she squealed as she grabbed onto the thick branches and expertly hauled herself up, higher and higher until she reached the middle of the tree, waiting for the youth. "How much longer until you reach me?!" Without waiting for a reply, she took off, launching off one branch to another. Her hand, meeting the tough bark that was stuck firmly onto the actual branch.

Within several minutes, Princess Lucretzia Noin had managed to reach the top of the tallest tree in the massive garden they had within the palace walls. "Wow!" she gasped, her eyes darting forward and back as she gazed at the closest village, enjoying the splendid view. "It's got a great view up here!" She peered down at the ground with triumphant joy. Slowly she looked over to the castle gate, spotting two finely dressed men with a few guards behind them. One of the men had platinum blonde hair that reached the middle of his back. The other was the duke she'd seen earlier. Both were about the same height.

"Hey Noin," the soldier gasped for a breath, "I just heard that there's a ball tonight. To be held at seven o' clock and all must attend, especially you."

The princess bellowed, "A ball?! But I don't want to wear those frilly and elegant dining gowns. And I hate balls, they 'always' step on my feet."

"That's because you three-quarter lead and one-quarter don't. You're not meant to lead at all," he smirked, obviously trying to annoy Her Highness.

But she ignored him and instead suggested an idea. "Hey let's check out those two down there." Swiftly, she climbed back down, reaching the dirt ground and spying on them, noting the distance between her and the two gentlemen.

Smiling, Treize muttered, "You missed the entertaining event at lunch."

"What happened?" Milliardo nonchalantly asked, looking around at the trees.

"I saw a beautiful angel."

"The young maid standing beside you? Or the five year old princess screaming at the end of the corridor?" he joked. He had his hands in his pockets. He was wearing a white suit and white trousers, unlike the man beside him who wore a black tuxedo. 

The older man laughed and said, "It was the sixteen year old princess rushing down the stairs."

"A princess running down the stairs? Now, that I have missed." Both men were smirking at the thought, a red blur came flying out of nowhere at them. The young prince cursed under his breath and looked around for suspicious characters.

"Sorry there," a dirty-faced teenager grinned, wearing peasant-type clothes, sitting in the tree.

"Watch where you drop your apples, young Page!" Milliardo growled, glaring angrily at 'him'. He noted his appearance and huffed, continuing to walk.

"It's alright sir! I didn't drop it, I threw it." He chuckled and jumped down from the branch, striding up to the gentlemen, chewing on the apple's lush flesh. The youngster wasn't extremely tall nor was he short but in fact, a moderate height. He seemed quite thin which was noticeable because of the belt, even though the clothes themselves were already baggy enough. Treize had watched silently the whole time, noticing his friend's temper rise. 

"What's your name?" the prince questioned, stand straight and looking down at the mischief maker.

"Luciao," he replied smartly, his long bangs hanging partially over his right eye.

"I remember you," Treize uttered. "I remember seeing you before lunch, am I right?"

The young 'Page' smiled and said, "Yes Duke Kushrenada. I'm glad you have such good memory. Well if you are bored, we could set up the archery targets and maybe you two could have some fun. Or would you prefer the actual hunting?" 

Milliardo eyed him with suspicion but kept his manners, "I'm sure we could try for hunting." _I'm sure I could show this guy a thing or two…_

"There are deer and warthogs and wild pigs around the place. But the deer are pretty rare nowadays so I ask for you not to hunt them down," he mentioned and led the two gentlemen towards the stables to select some horses. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Looking at the horses, Milliardo came across a beautiful dark bay but young stallion, with long slender legs of black and a dark reddish body and both his lengthy neck and head, made of a dark chocolate brown. His rump was rather big but when looking at the horse as a whole, he was massive. Even a tall gentleman such as Milliardo didn't reach half way up the stallion's neck when the animal held his head up high. The stable was constructed out of sturdy wood and painted mahogany. It took up a large area and turned out to be nearly as big as a 3x4 metre room and even at the back was a small area for it to enjoy the fresh air outside.

"What a fine creature of splendor," the young prince commented, stroking its neck and scratching where the top of its cheek bone was visible. "I'm sure its owner would be as graceful and…"

"Sorry pal, but I'm choosing this one," a voice yelled as the young 'Page' came walking down the stable with the riding tack.

"Hey but I saw it first, besides I'm the guest around here!"

"It's…" _Can't say he's my horse. Page's don't own horses, not until they become a knight._ "Alright then we'll see whether you can ride him or not," 'he' sniggered at that point.

"Sure, just find another horse when you lose," Milliardo hissed as the stallion was saddled up. Meanwhile, Treize had selected a white gelding and called for the groom to saddle the mixed Arabian horse and waited while the Page chose another horse.

Lucretzia looked around, searching for a slower horse for the to-be failure. She didn't know whether it was fortunate or unfortunate that all the horses in the stable were fine horses and didn't lack in speed or in style… with an exception of the wild horse they had started to train only two months ago, which still had his fury and temper. Setting of to work, she grinned mischievously and hummed a soft tune, smacking the horse lightly on the neck when it turned to nip her. The young princess was known in the nearby villages for her relationship with horses and how she was able to saddle up even the wildest of those flight animals. Perhaps she was a bit better known to be a strong rider and athlete more than an elegant princess who sat in her garden and viewed the pretty flowers. But overall the villagers enjoyed seeing her whenever she 'ventured' out of the palace grounds.

Leading the horse out of its stable, the trio stepped into the open and immediately mounted on. Lucretzia grinned, glancing at her stallion cheekily. The horse seemed to know exactly what she meant and immediately reared, his back legs stapled to the ground as his diamond hooves was flung around in mid air. He dropped his forelegs and charged off, bucking and pigrooting. No matter how hard Milliardo tried to cling on, the horse kept twisting and turning under him, bumping the prince until he could no longer stay on and fell, crashing savagely into the pile of sand which spilled into his suit. Perhaps the stallion was over-doing it a bit but it had to be done, just to show that Milliardo Peacecraft who he was dealing with.

The show didn't stop there though, tearing through the wind was the terrorising beast, his mane, flying behind him and he continued darting off, ceasing to stop. Immediately, Lucretzia quickened the grey stallion that she rode presently and charged off after her, speeding into the woods and promptly whistling loudly to call him back, telling him the act was over. Like a proud young poodle, he threw his head up and trotted beside the grey stallion that tried to jerk his head around and nip at the favourite. But luckily, the young rider had a firm contact and forced the stubborn horse to ride into his bit before letting him take a break.

By the time they had reached the fallen prince and the laughing duke, Milliardo was already up and growling, ready to insult the young 'Page'.

"I'm sorry sir, I'm sure he didn't mean it. Why don't you ride this one instead? He seems to much gentler and quieter than the stallion," Lucretzia insisted, dismounting the grey horse and handing his reins over to the foreigner. Gleefully, she collected her own horse's reins and jumped on while the duke who had observed the whole 'accident' chuckled silently in his head.

"Milliardo, was that horse too much to handle?" he teased, telling his horse to start walking towards the woods, with his rifle in one hand and Milliardo's in the other. As his friend caught up to him, Milliardo reached for his gun and shot Treize a glare. "All the event that happened in one day… We've still got a whole month before we leave. I wonder if you can survive." 

Lucretzia gasped at the thought of an eventful month being with his foreigner. _I can't stand one day with him being here! How can I stand a 'whole' month?!_

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

How'd you like that? And I'll make sure the chapters are longer too.

Oh I can't forget this either...

**Disclaimer:** *gasp* I hereby inform you that Gundam Wing and the characters in it are not mine, they belong to their respective owners and I have no right to claim them as mine. Nor do I gain any profit from writing these stories to entertain you. They are for you to enjoy reading from my own free will.

Enough of the meanie Disclaimer! And I wish you all a Merry X'mas and a Happy New Year... C'mon when's Chinese New Year?!?!

See ya! CT!


	2. Emotions

**A ****Palace**** of ****Disaster******

Chibi Tsuki

_A/N: Sorry for taking so long, the original script of chapter 2 somehow got deleted - which is drastic because I have to retype it ALL again. _

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

**Chapter 2**

_Emotions_

"Milliardo, you're usually so forgiving, why did you get angry with that Page all of a sudden?" Treize questioned once the Page had left for some reason. 

"I don't know, perhaps it's because my father is already planning out my marriage to some stranger that I haven't even met yet. I don't want to marry a stranger even though I know I don't have any other choices... So I'm fairly stressed about that," the prince replied, expressing his inner emotions to his best friend. 

"It's the first time that you've had such an outburst for a rather long time. And it seems that you have a new rival at the moment in sports." With a grin, the young duke stretched his hands and lay on his back, glancing up at the clouds above him. The grass was soft and had a fresh smell to it. 

Glaring at his friend for the indecent statement, Milliardo lifted his hand up to slap Treize lightly on the head. "Thanks for the help. Maybe you should get the award for being the best comforter," he muttered sarcastically. 

Treize smiled. "Really? Where can I apply?" The two chuckled and continued to talk as the sun gradually sunk below the horizon. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Milliardo walked positively into the ballroom beside his father, noticing the pairs of eyes shining at him; from the girls, it was adoration, from the men, it was politeness that possibly hid the hated emotion; jealously. Before entering the room, he had made sure that he was looking as tidy as possible, without the wisps of his long platinum hair knotted. His white suit was straightened perfectly as he strode in proudly beside his father although his face didn't show it. He had learnt to hide his emotions ever since the Sanc Kingdom fought a war against the Alliance. But luckily his father was strong enough to withhold the sources of evil and stopped them in their actions. He was only six then and that war had made a deep cut into his heart as he remembered those whom he loved and treasured, died, especially his gracious mother.

"Naolan," Celurious Noin greeted as the platinum blonde man and his son approached.

"Celurious, meet my son, Milliardo Peacecraft," the Peacecraft king introduced. The young teenager bowed slightly in a polite fashion and presented his emotions with a pleasant smile. 

"Nice to meet you Milliardo," Celurious muttered in delight, subtly noting the young man's posture and handsome looks. _What a fine suitor Milliardo would make… He led them towards the drinks section on the long table where the food was neatly laid out for the guests. "Please, do have a drink of this fine wine." Passing his friend a wine goblet, he glanced towards Milliardo, "How about a small sip, Milliardo? I'm sure a bit won't harm."_

"No thank you," Milliardo refused. "I'll be fine for now." He sub-consciously listened to the conversation and nodded whenever they asked him for a brief answer. When would he father let him go off and perhaps sit down away from the crowd? As much as he detested dancing, it seemed as if eyes were staring at him from everywhere. 

Suddenly the raven-haired gentleman spoke up, "Here comes my daughter." He pointed to the set of stairs that led down into the main hall. Milliardo glanced around knowing that it would be inconsiderate to turn and look. But instead of what he had expected, he noticed a delicate, angelic figure of grace, beauty and splendour descending the stairs with long raven-haired that reached past her shoulder blades, ending slightly above her elbow. Surely she was an angel from heaven. In front of her was also another beautiful woman but he recognised her as the wife of Celurious. But the girl behind was definitely different from all those whom he had met and seen. He blinked a couple of times and before he even realised, they were only two metres away from one another.

"Evening Father, Signor Peacecraft," she greeted politely, performing a short curtsey before looking up at the blonde who stood close to her. _Eek… How'd he get here? She gulped subtly and smiled at the gentlemen in respect. _

"Lucretzia meet Milliardo Peacecraft, Prince of the Sanc Kingdom."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Signor Peacecraft," she hesitantly held out a hand for him which he accepted and lightly brushed his lips against her gloved knuckles.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Signorina," Milliardo smiled. He was trying to flatter this young lady with his charm and knowledge of the Italian culture. 

Celurious pumped up a chuckle. "You young ones go and enjoy yourselves with a dance on the floor. Go now." Within a short matter of time, he was already shooing them away from the group and towards the other dancing couples who were swaying slowly with the music. Gingerly, Lucretzia rested her hand on his shoulder as he reached forward and placed a firm hand on her waist. Inwardly, she felt like ripping herself to shreds for letting this fool hold her in such a way. If it weren't out of respect and consideration for her father, Lucretzia would've probably ignored the suggestion and gone off in search of her friends. But for a second, she felt as if she was safe in his arms as they moved swiftly through the music, only realising at the very end of the song that they were in the middle of the spotlight. Quickly she detached herself from him as a faint tint of red burned through her cheeks.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

As they danced, Milliardo felt a warm feeling somewhere in his upper body, comforting his mental self. He could smell a particular fragrance from her body. Letting himself familiarise the smell of lilies, he sighed and smiled warmly at the lady he was dancing with. From his height, he spotted a slight smile formed on the girl's lips, most likely a sign of enjoyment. During the whole time they spent dancing, he was gazing deeply into her eyes, absorbing the beauty that sparked at him. Suddenly, the sound of music exchanged with the loud applause surrounding him. He quickly snapped back into the real world to find himself in the middle of the light, stilling holding onto the girl whom he had just met. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Thank you for the dance. May I please excuse myself," she apologised, escaping from his grasp through the crowd until she could find herself a quiet position away from the area, away from any other dancers. Soon she found herself immersed in a conversation with a group of young ladies. 

"Noin," a voice behind her said, surprising her instantly.

"Kievet. What are you doing here?"

The young page smiled as he stood beside her, "I'm on duty tonight. All the guests are here and I'm on the evening shift so I get to watch the ball." His voice was friendly and happy. "I saw you dancing out there. You looked really beautiful under the light and all, just like you do now." 

"Thanks. I don't feel like staying in here anymore, why don't we go somewhere?" 

"Sorry I can't. I'm on duty and I'll most likely get into trouble for running off like that."

"It's ok," a tinge of disappointment slipped through her expression. "I'll see you around then." She walked around the crowd towards the door. It was already late into the night. As a matter of fact, nearly eleven. But it didn't seem that long, if felt as if only fifteen minutes had passed since the party had started. With one last look at the ballroom, she left the area and back up the stairs towards her room knowing that the guests would be there until quite some time. Just as she pushed the door open, she noticed a figure bouncing on her bed while whooping with laughter. "Hilde? What are you doing here?"

"Lu!" the young child yelled at the top of her voice, darting to the single person entering the door. "Mother said that I could sleep in the same room as you tonight because of the ball." Lucretzia smiled at the memories of the two raven-haired girls whispering and chatting endlessly about pranks and jokes they had done or planned to do the last time they shared a room which was a fairly long time ago. "I saw you dancing with Prince Milliardo at the beginning of the ball. But then Mother shooed me to bed so I couldn't look for you." Hilde, being only twelve was quite mature for her age but of course, with several exceptions. Her little sister was already in her pyjamas, ready for bed but right now, she was still bouncing around like a little bouncy ball.

"Well hop into bed, I'm going to get changed quickly first," Lucretzia stated, indicating at her ball gown and the rich jewels that hung on her like ornaments on a Christmas tree. As she came back out of the bathroom after brushing her teeth, she found her sister already fast asleep on her bed. Snuggling into the bed, Lucretzia smiled as the sleeping figure next to her and before soon, she too fell asleep from pure exhaustion.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Wake up Lu!" Hilde shouted into her sister's ear who immediately jerked upright. "Wakey wakey. Rise and shine. There's going to be pancakes today for breakfast." Lucretzia rubbed her eyes and blinked several times to adjust herself to the bright light streaming through her curtain that shined onto her body. She stretched out and yawned just as her sister came bouncing back into the room with her blue nightgown on. She turned and looked at the clock before stating the time. "It's nine already." Quickly pulling the closest skirt she could find, she matched it with a freshly ironed white shirt and threw on a pair of sandals to keep her feet off the cold tiled floors. With a quick wash of her face, she raced down the stairs while tying up her long hair up into a ponytail. The two siblings hurried downstairs in a casual fashion and hurried through the rooms until they reached the kitchen and skidded to a halt just as they noticed a young man sitting at the breakfast table with the food all set out in front of him. But instead of eating, he was looking at them, wearing a white suit that Lucretzia had seen the night before. 

"Morning Signorina," he greeted, smiling at the two blushing sisters. Luckily Lucretzia had thrown on some casual clothes if not she would've been embarrassed to no end. But Hilde, being in her nightgown, zoomed upstairs and back into her room to get changed into something more appropriate. 

"Morning Signore," she muttered softly, seating a few seats away from the young gentleman. Her appearance was kind, gentle and sweet but her inner self was already planning some pranks for this fool who had become her newest rival. Today, she will strike once again and show him the real expert.

"Please call me Milliardo."

"If you insist," Lucretzia gave him an unenthusiastic smile.

Milliardo waited. He waited some more but still she didn't say anything else. "So… may I call you by your first name?"

"Yes." Eventually, Hilde showed up again at the breakfast table and seated politely beside her sister, wondering why they hadn't started eating yet. "Milliardo, meet my sister, Hilde. Hilde, this is Signor Milliardo Peacecraft."

"Morning Signore," Hilde chirped.

"Please call me Milliardo." Just then he looked up, noticing a figure walking into the breakfast room. "Treize, please sit down. Meet Lucretzia and Hilde." The youth seemed to be proud to know the two young ladies sitting a couple of seats away. 

The duke sat down next to Milliardo and uttered, "I've already met Lucretzia but it's a pleasure to meet you, Signorina Hilde." He smiled as the young girl blushed at the thought of being called 'Signorina Hilde.' "Let's start on breakfast before the food goes cold." Soon enough, they started feasting on their breakfast of pancakes.

Lucretzia bent down and whispered into Hilde's ear, "Where's Andre? He's supposed to be with us for breakfast." As her response, Hilde gave her sister a clueless look and a shrug, indicating to her that she had no idea to the problem. "You keep eating, I'll go look for him." Taking her last bite of the pancake, she excused herself and headed upstairs to her brother's room. "Andre? Andre?" 

"Lu! Lu!" the yell of a young boy sounded through her ears. She quickly ran towards the window and looked across at the tree two metres away from the balcony. Her brother was stuck up on a tree like a young mischievous kitten who had wandered up a tree without the ability to climb back down. His hands were slipping off the tree's branch as he desperately tired to cling on. 

"Stay there, don't move Andre! I'm coming," she gritted her teeth and without second thought, ran to the balcony and lifted herself onto the thin railing. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_I wonder why she's taking so long. Hilde gave an uneasy expression to the two older men. "Excuse me for a second," she muttered before leaving the seat and running upstairs. She ran past her own room and continued running until she reached the third door on the left and ran into it, noticing her sister climbing onto the railing. "Lu! What are you doing?!" _

Her startling voice called Lucretzia to an abrupt stop from leaping off the balcony. "Don't scare me like that Hilde. Andre, stay there, I'm coming!" Catching the last sentence, Hilde rushed over towards her sister as she leapt onto the tree, her navy pleated skirt whirling with the wind. Andre was whimpering until the moment he felt his sister's sturdy hand clutching onto his grazed hand. Even though he was still trying hard to support his weight with his other hand, he knew that he was a lot safer with his sister with him. "Andre, I'm going to pull you up, try and grab onto the branch," Lucretzia ordered with an affirmative voice.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Milliardo had already finished his pancakes and the rest were already cold. Giving Treize a quick glance he noticed the duke looking elsewhere. "Milliardo," he muttered, nudging the platinum blonde teen on the arm, "I think there's a problem of some sort." Swiftly he stood up from his chair, pushing the object backwards. Without any hesitation, the two gentlemen headed out towards the kitchen, passing the rows of polished benches towards the commotion. Everyone was looking up into the tree, their heads held up high to see the nerving action.

 High in the tree were two people, one holding onto the other for his life. "Andre," Lucretzia uttered in a soothing voice once she had pulled him up onto the thicker branch. "Andre, now you've got to leap back over ok? Just reach for it. Don't look down and trust yourself." The amber-haired youth grunted and climbed slightly further away from the tree's thick waist so he could find a better position to jump. "When I count to three. One, two, three!" The boy plunged for the balcony, using the unsteady tree branch as a spring. Suddenly he heard a crack behind him as his feet left the branch. But he continued to reach out for the railing, just like the way his sister had told him to. A quick feeling of relief swept through him as he successfully supported himself back onto the balcony but it soon disappeared when he noticed his sister falling down to the ground with pure speed.

But for Lucretzia, it seemed as if it were a small test of her survival skills as she expertly grabbed the closest branch and flipped over it a couple of times before it was slow enough for her to launch herself onto the branch without tipping over to one side. Maybe it was too much of a trial. _I don't need to get into a habit of doing this…She held herself securely onto the branch and breathed in and out, relaxing her tensed body. Just as she glanced downwards, she noticed a flock of people looking up at her, staring at her in shock and terror. But at the very edge of the crowd were two men, one was impressed and the other was carrying a bored expression. She had decided to herself that it was too far down and if the people would move over perhaps she could flip back down or just simply climb off the tree for safety measures. But she had decided to take a precaution and descended the tree slowly before arriving at the last branches, jumped off landing not-so-softly onto the ground. Lucretzia let out a deep breath and trudged back into the house with the two screaming siblings of hers rushing down to make sure she was still alive. "Lu!" the both shouted in unison, grasping tightly onto their sister. Once they'd let her go, Lucretzia turned and looked at her brother and demanded why he was up in the tree in the first place. _

"I was trying to get my kite back with a broom but I went too far out and fell," the young boy indicated to the broken broom lying on the floor, split into two halves. He stifled a cry and clung tightly onto his sister once again. "I'm sorry Lu. I didn't mean to…"

Being the eldest one, Lucretzia couldn't blame him. He was unlike the two of his sisters, he was generally a sweet innocent child with no intention of committing the evil pranks his sisters came up with. "It's alright Andre, let's go back into the house," she tugged his hand slightly, leading him back into the castle through the kitchen door.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

From where he stood, Milliardo felt an urge to help the siblings but Treize immediately held him back and gave him an acknowledged look. He seemed interested at this decision of life or death. "She can manage, she's much tougher than you think," his voice didn't do much to soothe his worries but nevertheless he continued to stare at the action with a tinge of fear. The young boy had just leapt forward and onto the balcony when suddenly the branch sounded the area with a loud crack, ringing through his ears. But he was a man, a young gentleman, he knew that he wasn't there to be afraid for the girl but to somehow just be there. The girl had caught onto another branch several metres lower and swung around and around a couple of times, revealing her underwear slightly. He blushed at the sight and looked away for several seconds before turning back to look at the action. She had easily managed to secure herself on the branch and quickly climbed down several branches and performed a leap, landing on the floor perfectly. _It seems so familiar…Yet I can't recall where it was from…_

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lucretzia wiped the sweat off her forehead with a damp towel and sighed. She didn't feel like performing pranks today. It was all too much for her although it was only the morning.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_A/N: *Phew* How was that? I know… a LOT of character switching and all but I think it was sort of necessary. What do you mean they seem to like each other? They're not supposed to… for Lucretzia the prankster has more up her sleeves… Enough for now. _

_*Starts waving her sword (where did it come from?) around madly, fending of the approaching lawyers* "I've got a sword and I'm not afraid to use it!"  
  
_


	3. Hints and Habits

**A ****Palace**** of ****Disaster**

Chibi Tsuki 

A/N: Sorry about the late update I was busy going through the other chapter 2s for other stories… Please forgive me… And a big thanks to all my reviewers! Ayanami Chan, leea_silver, Lil Noin, Lady Sapphire, smokeymisty, reboo, winnie, Tsurai, Ryan, Angel of Ice, Kat, Illpalazo, Kero (ß hehe :p), Ice B. Discordia and Lady Dante. Thanks heaps people, I really do enjoy reading your reviews. There's another riding scene because I couldn't think of what to write. (Big writer's block) So I just typed whatever came to my mind in case another writer's block happened to fall on me again.

**Chapter 3******

Hints and Habits

The older princess whistled a light, bright melody as the little bird stayed perched on her index finger, its claws clung on firmly. "Hello?" Smiling, the girl gave the bird one last scratch on its neck before letting it fly off. "Hey there." Lucretzia turned around and looked at the one who had called her. Suddenly, a clump of something landed square in her face. The once placid smile from her face vanished instantly as she brought a clean hand and wiped against the muck, to discover the filth as mud. Upon hearing an evil cackle, she growled and lifted her eyes up to see the guilty person was. Standing several metres away from her was a man dressed in a fairly fancy set of clothes he was wearing a suspicious mask. His hair was long, a soothing platinum blonde colour. 

"Who…" she stopped herself from continuing and looked at him several times to reassure herself. "Hey, you're that guy who danced in the spotlight last night. Why'd you throw that at me!" She demanded, continuing to wipe off the thick layer of ooze still layered on her skin.

Milliardo beamed subtly at the mention of the moment but quickly returned his thoughts back against the girl, a smirk on his face. "I guess my disguise doesn't work. And that, my dear Page, was a treat for you." He sniggered and gradually, he broke into another cackle. 

Lucretzia just remembered that she was wearing boys' garments, instead of her elegant dresses and skirts. But that did not change her now formidable expression. Milliardo's eyes were off her at the present moment and so she used to time and scooped up a handful of mud with her left hand and muttered the boy's name. "Milliardo, look at this!" He turned and she threw. The mud had landed directly on his attire, dirtying his recently cleaned jacket. His face scrunched up with anger before exploding into a cheeky but menacing laugh. Already in his hand was another scoopful of filth fresh from the ground. He chucked it towards her as fast as he could. It landed straight on her arm as she tried to dodge the mud assault. She repaid his generosity swiftly as another patch landed on his neck.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

By the time Milliardo had had enough of mucking around, his dirtied features and clothing was greatly disliked by his father who immediately scolded him before sending him up for a bath to rid him of the stench. There was to be another lecture by his father right after his bath and that wasn't going to be good. It was that Page's fault to have ridiculed him in the first place but truthfully, it was his own fault too, for being childish and employing revenge. The battle was fun while it lasted, he tried to remember the last time he had so much fun in years. He flicked his hair so that it hung over the tub's edge as he slipped deeper under the water's surface. Suddenly, a something smelt… bad… "Ahh!" He yelled, looking at the water's surface to notice a thick layer of mud that had peeled off his skin and started sinking into the water. "Yuck!" His voice echoed through the guest corridor inside the palace.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Lu, hurry up!" Hilde whined as her older sister continued to shower in the bathroom. The young girl sat impatiently on her sister's bed, her legs dangling over the edge. She was dressed in cowboy style garments and leathery strips hung on her shirt like the old western style. 

"Two minutes," the girl in the bathroom replied, still wringing the water out of her long shimmering hair. Quickly drying her hair of its wet status with a blow drier, she brushed through her thick mane continuously until she had ridded her hair of the knots. Stepping out into her room, she was fully dressed and changed, except for the shoes. 

Hilde brightened up and rushed over to her sibling, "Can you braid my hair for me?" Lucretzia nodded and started the task of a French braid. "Andre's coming with us today," she stated while trying to keep her head as straight as possible.

"Ok. Nearly finished." Lucretzia picked up the elastic band from her sister's hand and tied it around Hilde's hair before adding the ribbon to it. "Done. We can go now." She stood up and headed to her wardrobe. Collecting her boots, she put them on swiftly and trudged out of the room behind Hilde just in time to meet Andre ready and set to go. 

They headed out of the palace towards the stables and that was when Lucretzia noticed Hilde wearing an identical shirt to her except for the colour differences, with hers being a darkish yellow. If Hilde looked older, they would've most likely been mistaken for twins. "Are we going for a trail Lu?" Andre asked, excitement filling his mind. "Or jumping?"

"I'm thinking about both," the older girl replied, urging her nine year old brother to continue moving. Hilde smiled and skipped into the stables while Andre followed quickly behind.

"Mind if we come along?" a voice muttered behind her. 

Lucretzia groaned silently to herself before turning around to meet the duke and prince, followed by a girl of her age. She nodded and said, "Sure, why not? The more the merrier." Looking at the girl again she smiled, recognising her face. "My warmest greetings, Lady Po. It's nice to see you again." 

Letting out a soft chuckle, the girl stepped forward up to the raven-haired girl and hugged her. "It's great to see you too Noin." She was slightly startled to hear her last name but quickly the tense feeling eased away. They were close friends from their childhood, if not perhaps best friends and they shared many adventures together. Secretly together, they called themselves by their last name and pretended to be army captains, storming out into the riding arena on their big but well trained Maremmana* horses, wearing uniforms the maids had sewn for them, with small paper-cut swords as their weapons in war. "It's been a while since I've seen you. What, nine months?"

"Nine months exactly." Instantly forgotten, the two gentlemen behind stood silently behind, staring blankly at the two girls. "Let us go gather the horses, perhaps we could picnic out for lunch instead." 

Sally walked up to the red-bay stallion and petted him on the forehead, following the little swirl on its head. "It's great to see you again Twister. I hope Noin has treated you well." The horse snorted softly for her to continue petting just as she was beginning to stop. "I'm going to get Cherry, if it's alright with you Noin."

"Go ahead." Saddling, her horse, Lucretzia noticed the confused look on the prince's face from the corner of his eye. "Please, pick a horse Signore Peacecraft." _And this time, hopefully you won't make a fool out of yourself again. She grinned at the thought as she continued to bridle her horse. Hilde and Andre already had their horses ready and were waiting outside for her. "Hilde, can you go get the saddle bags? Just get Andre to hold Callaba for you." _

The younger replica of herself rushed off with a nod and returned soon after when everyone was ready to leave. Treize had chosen a palomino and Milliardo, the grey mare. Once they had fixed the saddle bags onto the saddles, everyone mounted their horses and left, following a worn trail on the ground, which lead into the woods. Busily up the front, were the two best friends, chatting continuously to one another, laughter and giggles sounded through the woods. "Let's go for some speed," Lucretzia suggested without wasting a second. She squeezed her horse gently on the belly, urging it to quicken its pace while the others followed suit. Changing her position, she gave a quick glance behind and smiled. Hilde and Andre weren't far behind and Sally had managed to sneak up beside her on the red-brown mare. As for the other two, they were somewhere nearby. The horses galloped swiftly on the trails, their thundering hooves landed against the hard floor. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

By the time it was midday, they had already finished their lunch and were just about to head off again. Lucretzia let out a sharp piercing whistle, calling back the horses that had drifted off to the meadows for a bite of grass. They cantered back, the stallion in lead, followed by the others. "Lu… can we not go yet? I need to go," Andre whispered into his sister's ear, embarrassed by the need to relieve. 

"Sure, we'll ride around in the meadow for a while," she replied, with a sisterly understanding. Mounting back onto her stallion, she let him canter in a slow pace around the meadow, using the oval shape as an arena. The others watched as she handled the stallion with such gentleness as is she was letting it ride leisurely but that wasn't the case. Hilde soon followed behind her and ordered her gelding for a race against the slightly larger horse. It gained speed quickly in its gallop, exceeding the stallion's speed. While the stallion was still cantering, the smaller horse was already galloping at high speed and quickly took the job of being in the lead. 

"I'm ready!" Andre yelled running back to the group. Abruptly, he tripped over a log and landed on the ground ungracefully, groaning slightly in pain. He lifted himself up and dusted himself of the dirt and checked his knees for any grazes. His tame horse had walked towards him until he was only half a metre away and obediently waited for its master to mount back on. Andre smiled and jumped back onto the animal's back. His way of communication with the animals had somehow tamed their wild spirits into listening to him. Milliardo smiled, Andre reminded him of the boy who he had spent time with as a kid. They were a trio, him, Trowa and Heero. No there was one more in addition to their group, Treize who visited often. Glancing up at the princess he noticed something familiar about her. The way she rode, her piercing whistle, her cheeky grins that were subtly visible. They all reminded him of the young Page. Perhaps they rode together, considering that they were of the same age group.

"Signore Milliardo, we'll be leaving without you soon," Hilde informed. She turned away just in time to hide the cheeky smiled that had forced its way onto her face although she had tried fairly hard to stop it from happening. The blonde shook his head and nodded, lifting himself into the saddle.

_You remind me of someone… Princess… Milliardo looked up at the girl again, trying to familiarise that exquisite face that he had seen not only two nights ago at the ball or the day when she saved her little brother._

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sitting on the hillside, Lucretzia and Sally engrossed themselves in a lengthy conversation once again. They were chatting continuously, not once showing any signs of ceasing their talk. "When can I see your little falcon again?" Sally questioned, looking at Lucretzia hopefully.

The girl beside her curved her mouth ever so slightly, forming a tiny smile. "You still remember him? I'm surprised," she confessed.

"You talking about Bailey?" Hilde asked as she crawled to join the pair to form a triangle.

Lucretzia looked at her younger sister in annoyance. "For the fifth time Hilde, he's called Razer."

"Ok, ok. Duo calls him the Shinigami's sidekick, Shinigami no. 2."

Sally giggled at the name. "And who's the 'Shinigami'?"  

"Himself of course. Typical." Hilde sighed at the mention of her childhood playmate's self-given title.

Andre wriggled himself into the group and grinned, "But Duo's cool. He lets me ride Deathscythe." He looked up at Sally, noticing her clueless face, he added in a few extra words to clarify the name. "Deathscythe's his horse."

Meanwhile, the other two were sitting several metres away from the conversing group, carrying on a conversation between themselves. Milliardo glanced towards their direction and suddenly heard a whistle. He could hear the beating of wings when briskly, a figure zoomed past him, only inches from his face. It glided towards the group and landed on the older raven-haired girl's arm. The bird was a small falcon with a brilliant and even mixture of brown, cream, black and grey feathers. Its beady eyes of a bright yellow colour. Lucretzia was scratching it on the throat, where any bird could not scratch the spot themselves. The prince gave the girl an unnoticed glare in agitation. _So it was **her. ****She was the one dressing up as a page and humiliating him in front of his best friend. The humiliation would be repaid. Frankly, she's not ****that bad and sure she's got the perfect body, looks and everything. I'll show her that I'm not fun to tease! **_

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_A/N: Sorry, another short chapter but I really wanted to put something up because I've also got the other stories to update and so enjoy! And of course, our Milliardo isn't all that lost and in fact, we get to find the cheeky side of him soon._

_*Brings out tennis ball machine thingie (dunno what it's called but it just shoots tennis balls for people to hit, yeah that thingie) and turns it towards the lawyers and suers who dare approach* You better run! Coz I don't think you can handle 50 tennis balls at once! Get my point? Good._

**_Important: I desperately need ideas/pranks/suggestions/inspirations if you want the next chapter up soon. Please contribute everyone. If everyone gives out one opinion then I'll have a few (not many) but a few ideas that'll help me with the next chapter. Thanks!_**

_Mata ne! _


	4. Victims of Honey and Powder

**A ****Palace**** of ****Disaster**

Chibi Tsuki 

**_A/N:__ Sorry I had a writer's block and I couldn't think of what to type and I just made Wufei older than the other pilots although he doesn't play a large role or anything._**

Chapter 4

Victims of Honey and Powder

Stirring from his sleep, the young prince breathed deeply, his platinum blonde hair splayed over his charming face and his topless body. Slowly his eyelids flickered open, closing several times as the ice blue eyes adjusted to the morning light that greeted him through the glass windows. He stayed in the position for a while, snuggling closer to his pillow for comfort. Beside his queen sized bed was a small wooden bedside table, a plain silver clock on top. The time telling device ticked as the second hand continued its never ending rotation. It was only quarter to eight. Milliardo sat up stiffly and stretched his arms in front of him, supplemented with a loud yawn. Abruptly, a gush of wind blew at his bare torso, causing his to shiver and grab his blankets and wrap it around himself. The window had been left wide open and the curtains were fluttering with the breeze. He didn't favour the cold wind that bit at his skin in the mornings especially if he wanted to sleep in even if it were for a little while longer. Once he had closed the window with his blankets still held tight around his body like a cloak, he trudged over to his bed and tossed the blankets onto the bed, exposing his boxer shorts he had been sleeping in. _I need a shower… _

Warm water splashed onto his face, the sprays of liquid slipping down his skin. He moaned softly, feeling the water caress his skin and commenced to wash himself with soap.

A figure crouched on a tree branch outside the prince's balcony, the branch and the balcony only a few metres apart. Luckily the bathroom curtain had been closed or else the prince would've easily noticed the person outside. Hidden by the leafy branches, person whistled softly in a short warming tune. An animal flew from the balcony to its favourite perching spot, his mistress' shoulder. The bird made sure he was gripping on the thick leather pad she wore over her shoulder to prevent his deadly talons from clawing into her soft flesh.

He poured the smooth creamy shampoo onto his hand, inhaling its delicious honey smell as he mixed the substance with water, rubbing it between his two hands until he felt satisfied with the foam even though he felt some unusual bumpy bits. Smoothing it over his hair, he lifted his head out from under the water and scrubbed his head gently with his hands, his fingers massaging his scalp. Just then something felt wrong, the water that had rinsed off his shampoo had changed into a different colour. He brought his hand down and looked at it, noticing the foam had turned a yellowish brown colour and the substance was always sticking eagerly to his palm and fingers. The familiar scent suddenly struck him; it wasn't just honey scented shampoo but honey mixed **with shampoo. Someone had added real honey and cleverly used specific proportions of shampoo, honey and most likely other substances and mixed it carefully so that the shampoo would only have the scent of honey but the texture of normal shampoo and perhaps the tiny honeycomb bits. Milliardo growled and furiously threw the bottle at the other end of the bathroom, closing the shower door afterwards so that the water wouldn't leak outside. _Who would've done such a thing? I know who it is… and she's going to pay._**

Stepping out of the shower, the prince stroked his fingers through his hardened and sticky hair. He gritted his teeth and quickly dried himself up, throwing on respectable but slightly casual attire. The teenager donned black breeches and a leather belt that strapped both of his breeches and white collared shirt in place. Over his socks, he was wearing a pair of subtly tattered brown leather shoes.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Pulling on her archery glove, the powdery stuff coated over her hand even though she couldn't feel its subtle touch. For archery, she only used a single glove which padded her from the sharp wooden edges of her bow. With her other hand, she adjusted the arrow into its position for a shot at the target board. She aimed it at the bullseye, taking several glances at the board for a more accurate shot. Her right arm bent diagonally above her head, high in the air. Suddenly, a twitch in her fingers gave the arrow a disastrous exit out of the archery area, landing harshly into a tree. Lucretzia dropped her bow and pulled off her glove, dropping it to the ground when she noticed the sudden amend of colour in her hand. Luckily no one was there to witness both the reddened hand and the strange landing spot of the arrow. The dark-haired girl resisted the instant urge to scratch her hand. Something must've affected it for it to turn as red as it was and the sudden numbness in her left hand.

"It's so itchy… why is it so itchy?" she complained as she poured the water out of her bottle onto her hand, letting the water sip through her fingers. Although it wasn't as itchy as it was before, she still couldn't feel her hand except for the tingling feeling that bite at her flesh under the skin. With her hand in a weird condition like it was right now meant that she could no longer lift up her bow properly with the use of her left hand. She sighed and picked up the glove and bow with her right arm, digging her left hand into her pocket so that no one would observe the absurdity before rumours flew around the palace and soon after the village about the princess with some infected hand that everybody would worry about although it was nothing. 

A soft groan escaped her mouth as she tried to pull out the tail half of the arrow, squeezing the feathers as she pulled hard. Suddenly it was out and Lucretzia toppled over, landing onto the soft padded grass. This was _not her day. Once she had picked herself up and brushed the dirt off her clothes, she gathered her equipment and left the archery field._

"Lu!" a familiar voice wailed. It was Hilde rampaging down the corridor towards her sister, attaching herself onto the older girl. "I heard a maid said that you needed some bandages and cream. What happened?"

Shaking her head slightly, the princess smiled and replied, "I wonder where you were hiding in a game of hide-and-seek. Let me guess, the infirmary? You know you aren't supposed to hide in there or eavesdrop on the maids' chatter." Her voice had dropped to a whisper.

"What did you say about the maids?" Hilde muttered, cutely tilting her head as she released her clutch on her sister's shirt.

"Nothing. Now go and play, your friend would probably be wondering where you disappeared to."

"Nah, Relena won't mind."

Lucretzia glanced down at her sister curiously. "Relena? Who is she and when did she come?"

Before she trotted off, Hilde informed her sister, "She's Signor Milliardo's sister and she only came yesterday evening and she's gonna stay with us until her father and brother leave."

Now that her sister was gone perhaps the maid could see what was wrong with her hand. Entering her room, she sat down on her bed, throwing the glove through the bathroom door into the basin. Earlier on, she had left the bow and arrows outside the building for the servants to clear away since she wasn't really able to do it herself. _So Milliardo's sister has come for a visit. It's good that Hilde has a new companion to play with for a while. When she had told her personal maid about her hand, she had told her to keep it to herself but it seemed as if she had mentioned it to the others. The twenty year old maid had only attended her for half a year since her other maid had gone on leave for the holidays back to her family. Although it was a long holiday and Lucretzia had missed her very much, she would be back sometime._

Soon her personal mind returned, a first aid kit bundled in her arm. "Thank you Rosea," Lucretzia uttered as the woman stepped through the door and into her sleeping chambers, closing the door gently behind her. 

"Thank you Rosea, but don't you think this is a little extreme?" Lucretzia gulped at the sight of her well bandaged hand. "I mean, it was just a normal rash wasn't it?" She could not longer feel her own hand or her fingers. The bandage was bound so tightly that she couldn't even feel the blood circulate through her hand. "Rosea, you may be dismissed now." Speaking as politely as she could, Lucretzia waved a hand and watched as the older woman stepped out of the door, leaving her princess alone in the room. Instantly, the girl unwrapped the coils of bandages and dropped it onto the ground revealing a rather bright red hand. Gingerly, she rewrapped the bandage again, being careful not to make uncomfortable folds. In her mind, she made a mental note to be sure to see the 'more' experienced maids about it. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lucretzia Noin took a quick glance at the elder maid, noticing her face showing the deeper wrinkles when she scrunched up her face, deep in thought. "Iris? You know what's wrong with my hand?" The old woman only brought a finger up to her lips to silence the girl while she continued to study the hand. Her strange expressions only made the raven-haired beauty more or the less confused but she had managed to keep her face in order from showing her own expressions. Ten minutes had slowly gone by before the maid spoke again. 

"My dear princess," she uttered in her low deep fragile tone, "the white powder in your glove was itchy powder and if I remember properly, you're allergic to the powder so that's why your hand is as red as it is without your scratching." 

"Why would anyone put such powder into my glove?"

Chuckling Iris patted her on the back. "Perhaps someone's playing a prank on you or testing your temper. It's nothing to worry about, now go along now and let me attend to the herbs before it gets too hot." The young teenager was instantly shooed out of the infirmary into the corridors where her sister and her new friend were playing a game of chess… sitting on the ground? Lucretzia kneeled down beside the couple. Luckily the corridor was fairly wide and so the bustling maids were able to freely pass them without disturbance and usually if they were in the way, the less experienced maids would try their best to squeeze past without asking their mistresses to move. Sitting opposite Hilde was a honey blonde haired girl, about the same age as her younger sister. "Hilde…"

"Shh," Hilde hushed, deep in concentration.

"Hil…"

"Shh!" The girl was more determined this time to silence the onlooker. 

"Princess Hilde Noin!" Lucretzia growled, converting both girls' attentions onto herself.

"Oh, sorry Lu. I didn't know you were here. I thought you were…" 

Looking at her doubtfully, the older girl finished off her sentence, "You thought I was some servant maid right?" 

"Yeah." Both girls were looking at her apologetically.

"Are you going to introduce me to your friend here?"

Hilde nodded and smiled, "This is my sister, Lucretzia and Lu, this is Relena Peacecraft. My friend I was telling you about." 

"Nice you meet Princess Lucretzia," Relena stood up and curtseyed politely out of pure good manners. 

"No need to be so formal Princess Relena," Lucretzia uttered. _So **this is Milliardo's sister. I hope she has better tolerance than the prince has himself. **_

Speaking once again, Hilde pointed at her sister's wrapped hand, wondering curiously what had happened for it to become in such a state. 

"Nothing, just some allergy I have." Soon Lucretzia excused herself and let the two girls become consumed once again by their concentration on the chess match. 

Everyone seemed to have disappeared and no one was about in the palace except for a few gardeners and several maids who were working on cleaning the family portraits with care. Her boots clicked against the ground as she walked in a slow steady pace. Where had everyone vanished to? There wasn't even a trace of her brother playing the piano or violin nor could she hear her squabbling cousins who had arrived early that morning. They were probably enjoying themselves outside in the summer air while it was still warm outside. Just when she thought she would have to sit around and do nothing again, she noticed her friend at the window seat, reading a book while the sunlight beamed through the windows, exposing the words typed onto the paper to form that book. "Sally, where were you this morning? I was searching for you at breakfast," Lucretzia stated, approaching her friend.

Looking up from the book, Sally smiled and replied, "I had an early breakfast because I was practising French with my tutor. I'm sorry Noin."

"It's alright. I'm not blaming you," Lucretzia dramatically rubbed under her eyes as if brushing away several tears. 

"What happened to your hand? It's bandaged."

"Nothing truthfully. Only an allergy thing," she led the way out of the house and into the vast garden where the birds were chirping and twittering joyously. 

Sally nodded and placed her book down gently on a bench as she followed her friend through the mazes of the garden. It was so large that if you didn't know your way in it well enough, you would possibly be lost for several hours or perhaps even a few days. Suddenly an idea strung through her mind. _Let's see you get out of this one, Signor Peacecraft. Lucretzia smirked inwardly and followed the wall of the maze, her hand stroking against the plants' neatly trimmed hedges. "I remember coming into here once when we were only what, nine? Hilde and the little boy with the braid followed us in and they got themselves lost."_

Her companion chuckled and let out a sigh. "Now you remind me, I seem to remember it. Shinigami getting lost in a maze? That's something I have to tease him about." Then walked on, enjoying the sun as it shone onto them.

A shrill sounded high in the air above them. Hovering in the sky was a falcon, crying out aloud. Both the girls smiled as Lucretzia whistled. The bird obediently swooped down and flew around them, landing onto Lucretzia's leather pad which she worn often when she was in either her riding gear, archery gear or basically any type of sport gear. Razer gave her a light peck on the cheek when she tilted her cheek, gesturing for a kiss. Sally admired the bird's talents, astonished at how the bird acted some human-like sometimes. "He's a quick learner," Sally commented scratching the falcon's chest lightly with her finger. "I remember your archery instructor giving him to you two days before we left and back then he was just a scrawny little bird."

"He was very scrawny back then," Lucretzia chuckled, giving her a deserving peck on the ear for moving. She rubbed her ear gingerly as the falcon flew off her shoulder and instead, perched on a branch. Both young ladies cracked up into laughter. "Trowa did a great job helping me to teach that little thing."

"Trowa? Is he a servant?" Sally questioned once she had shook off her laughing fits.

Lucretzia shook and her head and replied, "No, he's the groom's son. Barely thirteen but he's very good with animals and he's an animal tamer. He can even tame the wildest beasts. But he's rather quiet but he's a good companion if you want silence."

"By the sound of things, he's even better than you."

"Yes, I must admit he's a professional."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Milliardo pondered, wondering where his rival was. He had seen her gone off back towards the palace after scoring an arrow into the tree. The blonde had been laughing behind his muffled hand when he was hiding to make sure that the raven-haired archer hadn't seen him. But ever since she disappeared back into the castle, he had lost her trace. He stepped into the garden, glancing up at the tree that reminded him of the situation when Treize had stopped him from trying to 'rescue the princess'. Milliardo paused before continuing along the pathway down further into the garden, noticing the hedges that covered a separate path. His curiosity got the better of him as he followed it, through a strange pathway that seemed to follow like a maze. Paths split into two and he decided which one to follow, considering whether to walk to the left or right. Eventually he took the right one instead of turning back which hadn't come to his mind that he had a great possibility of getting lost. 

After walking for over fifteen minutes, he heard a familiar voice and walked towards it, hiding behind a hedge while listening partially to the conversation.

"Sally, so I heard that you're going to be wedded within several months? To some Chinese man by the name of Chang Wufei?" the young princess muttered, still wearing her archery clothes. Sally nodded shyly, trying to avoid her face from turning into a deep pink colour. "He's a gentleman right? Do you like him?" 

The honey blonde-haired woman nodded and muttered so softly that Milliardo had to strain his ears to hear what she was saying. "Wufei's not a proper gentleman whom I would consider very well mannered and courteous but he's sweet and charming even if he's only still my height."

"Getting a late growth spurt I presume?" Lucretzia smiled and hugged her friend happily. Soon she released her and continued to stand half a metre away from her.

Noticing the bandaged hand, Milliardo soon became curious as to what was wrong with it. _That's the hand with the itching powder on it. What's wrong with it? As much as he wanted to go out from his hiding spot and ask her out straight, he resisted the feeling and stood peeking through the branches and leave of the hedge that acted as a wall._

"What about you Noin? How do you feel about marriage?" Sally questioned, seating herself down at the bench and possibly the _only bench in the maze._

Standing still, Lucretzia responded, heaving a sigh before she spoke. "I truthfully don't want to get married. What's the fun of getting married and bearing kids when all I want is freedom? Nevertheless be able to live freely and riding out on my stallion on adventures and perilous journeys." She had spoken in a staccato rhythm during her last sentence, emphasizing her dream. "But it's all just a mere vision. Just a dream, that pops into my head each night when I lay my head on my pillow. If I could ever leave those palace walls and leave the boundaries that keep me locked safely inside, I would've left ages ago. Perhaps I should try it someday and run free like the wild stallion that rears and battles through those barriers." For a second she smiled at the thought but soon it vanished again. "But that's impossible unless I wasn't born a princess or noble. Either way I guess I must let myself realise that it's my life and that there's nothing else I can do."

Silence slipped in between them until Sally broke it that is. "Noin, think about it this way. Life is like a spinning jewel, so precious yet fragile. Until your life's over, who knows what will happen when you're still alive? Sometimes the jewel will spin out of order and perhaps that's when your journey begins." Sally always had this way of speaking to her, using her knowledge to grasp at Lucretzia's emotions and bring out her better thoughts.

"Thanks Sally," Lucretzia smiled, closing her eyes for a moment, refusing to let tears blur up her vision. "You're my best friend and nothing can change that."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

**_A/N:__ Sumimasen, it was an awfully late posted chapter but I didn't mean to. It was going to be longer too but I thought that you'd want this chapter first. Please, please, please review! They kept me going on. Ja, ne!_**


	5. Bound to Trouble

**A ****Palace**** of ****Disaster******

Chibi Tsuki

**_A/N:__ Yay, a last an update and I'm glad that ff.n's back up. Noin and __Po__ have something up their sleeves! _**

Chapter 5

Bound to Trouble

Sally's smile broadened on her face as her hand stroked a white chrysanthemum petal. Beside her, her friend grinned cheekily after wiping away her unshed tears with a sleeve. The raven-haired girl glanced from Sally's hand to her face. "Thinking of that certain someone already are we, Sally?" Instantly a face turned into many shades of pink and red. "I'm glad to know that you'll be married to someone you love." Lucretzia turned her head and let her face display a hint of sadness. "It's alright Sally, we're not going back to that conversation we had five minutes ago. "Speaking of time, I nearly forgot that today we're supposed to go to dinner early."

"I wonder why," Sally mumbled, sitting down at the bench.                                                                                                                                                   

"What are you sitting down for? We've got half an hour!" Lucretzia asked and grabbed Sally by the arm, racing off with Lady Sally Po who had some problem with the speed. 

Milliardo winced when he heard about the early dinner. He was supposed to be there right at that moment and there was also another problem; he was lost in the maze without any help from Lucretzia. _I can't believe it, I lost sight of those two. He groaned and followed his instincts desperately. The hedges around him looked exactly the same, there was no distinct difference between them. From his pocket he brought out a white handkerchief, tying it around a small branch that could be easily spotted if he happened to turn up at the same spot again. He left the area and walked on; passed hedges, hedges and more hedges. __When will I ever manage to leave this place? Just as the prince turned around the corner after loosing the girls half an hour later, an unexpected yelp of joy left him. The sight of no more hedges, a definite thing to rejoice but there was another question that wandered in his mind; where did he end up this time? Surrounding him was a large bare patch of land but near the horizon he could barely spy the trees that stood high and unwavering. The sky was still quite well lit and the area around him was still visible within the sunlight. Milliardo ventured into the bare land, his boots stepping over dry patches or dirt. "The ground is so rough and dry. I wonder what they use this place for," he muttered to himself. As he continued walking further and further, he could see modelled figures tired in bunches of straw piled up against each other. They all resembled human beings. _

"Excuse me Prince Milliardo," an unexpected voice said, grabbing his attention, "but Princess Relena has requested me to search for you. Never did I expect you to be so far away from the palace." The speaker was a page with light brown hair with slightly curled tips. "Sir, it'll be quite a long walk, an hour if we're fast enough."

"It will take that long?" Milliardo asked politely, never letting down his smile. 

"Yes sir. Perhaps I should lend you my horse since the party will start soon and I'm sure you need prepare."

"Thank you…" Milliardo's last word lingered for a moment.

"Kievet sir," the smiling brown-haired youth replied. He assisted the prince onto the dark gelding who seemed slightly too short for the tall prince. 

"Thank you Kievet." With a kick, the horse went sailing forward, leaving behind trails of dust. 

Weary eyes followed the rider until he was out of sight. The page closed his eyes and breathed out in a relieved way.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Father, may I go to the local village for a visit with Sally please?" Lucretzia asked, tugging onto her father's sleeve in a childish way. "Please, please, please. I haven't been out of the gates before and I really want to go outside instead of being couped in the palace." The girl held her grip. 

Celurious Noin glanced at her wearing a disapproving look on his face. "Why don't you go ride within the gates? It's not safe for a princess of your statue to leave the palace gates," he advised as he tried to free himself of her grip but unfortunately it didn't seem to work. 

"I've explored the _entire palace already and besides it'll be no harm for us to visit the outside world. We'll learn so much, not from reading books but actually seeing it for ourselves."_

Stuck speechless, Celurious could only agree to this simple wish. "As long as Duke Treize and Prince Milliardo accompany you two. Bring several guards with you and disguise a little to fit into the crowd."

"Thank you Father!" Lu ran out of the dining room and up stairs to her room, passing Sally's to drop the information. She shut the door with a mild slam and searched through her wardrobe for simple clothes that were slightly peasant like. 

Several knocks sounded at the door and so Hilde, with her mouth full of tooth paste opened the door. "Shal-lay!" The guest smiled and stepped into the room, closing the door behind her while Hilde rushed to spit the paste out. 

"Hilde, who is it?" Lu yelled from the wardrobe.

"It's me Noin."

"Oh Sal, wait a second." Lucretzia searched for a pair of breeches to suit her brown shirt with bunched up sleeves from the elbow down to the sleeves and the short sleeved top she wore over the shirt. When she walked out of the walk-in wardrobe, Sally chuckled. "What?" 

"Lu, you might want to put on a belt before your breeches decide to fall off," Sally was nearly laughing her head off and Hilde was definitely no better off. Lucretzia grumbled, holding up her breeches with one hand while reaching for her fluffy slipper with the other. Her accurate aim came in handy; Sally was hit square in the face with the sole of the slipper. She quickly waddled back into the wardrobe, shutting the doors behind her. "I'm gonna get you Noin!" Simply wearing a belt and her hair in a bun with the classic Robin Hood hat over it, Lu stepped out from wardrobe once again, but this time in caution. Sally who was wearing basically the same garments as her except with a long coat that replaced the top was staring straight at her, a strangely scary look about her face.

"Riding today Princess Lucretzia?" the groom smiled friendlily, bowing to both ladies as they entered the stables. 

"Yes and I'll be taking Kievet with me, tell Lord Gerran that he'll be with me today and not at his lessons. He's going to be body guarding me which will be part of his experience in actual situations."

"Yes Your Highness. Shall I get him ready for you?"

"No it's alright I'll be fine by myself. I don't want to disturb you from your work," the princess smiled and headed towards her mount's stable. The saddle was quickly adjusted onto the horse due to her experience but Sally was definitely not far behind. 

"Noin aren't we supposed to go with Prince Milliardo and Duke Kushrenada?" Sally asked, raising an eyebrow.

Lucretzia winked and simply replied, "A little change in plan." 

"What's the change in plan Princess Lucretzia?" she remembered that voice clearly and that tone of curiosity and teasing combined together.

"Nothing Prince Milliardo we're ready. We'll wait for you two at the village." Twister walked steadily beside her until he pulled against his reins to try and nip the blonde but Lu successfully pulled him back. Already on her mount, Sally urged the horse forward into a trot with a gentle squeeze on the horse's girth area. Noin followed suit. 

"Oh no you don't," Treize shouted, urging his horse into a fast canter to reach the pair. "We're escorting you two ladies." Right behind him, Milliardo was successfully riding a horse, without falling off during the horse's fast pace.

Just as Noin was about to protest, Sally shook her head at her friend, supplementing a fine comment, "Ah, Lady Lucretzia, wouldn't it be nice to have these two handsome young gentleman accompany us? I'm sure any ladies would be jealous to see us with the famous Duke Kushrenada and the charming Prince Milliardo?" Chuckling, the two gentlemen watched Lucretzia let out a huff and urge her stallion forward so that she was leading the small group. _I seriously don't think it'll be nice Sally. You better know what you're doing because I don't. _

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

With Lucretzia in front of the ride, they approached the village only several minutes away from the palace walls. "So um… Duke Kushrenada-"

"Just call me Treize, Lady Po," the duke interrupted, bowing his head slightly in courtesy.

"So Treize are you engaged?" When Sally received no reply, except a mumble from her chum, she shook her head and put on a meek smile. "I'm sorry if I've intruded into your privacy, Duke Kushrenada, please forgive me."

"Oh no, it's nothing personal since nearly the entire world knows. I'm actually betrothed to a fine baroness, quite a caring and lovable daughter of a powerful man in our society," he half-grinned, half-smiled. 

"And who might this lucky lady be?" Sally wore her innocent yet charming look on her face. Several times, she had ignored Noin's irritating gestures.

Treize responded hesitantly, "Lady Une."

Lucretzia and Sally both gulped at the name. It raced through their minds but their expertise in fakery restrained them. "Why Treize, you must be the luckiest man alive. I've heard that Lady Anne Une is one of a kind. Very beautiful yet sometimes, how should we put it?" Noin tapped her cheek with her finger as the others looked at her startled. "Interesting." _Not the mention, rather strict but kind and caring… _

"My fiancée is rather interesting isn't she? A fine delicate creature but she's slightly pessimistic at other times."

"Poor thing, her sister's death must have done the damage. I heard she was quite upset at that time and so it resulted in a split personality," Lu muttered. She shook her head sadly and let out a deep sigh.

Sitting deep in her saddle, Sally was looking at Noin in an astonished fashion. "Since when did you acquire such information Lady Lu?" The others were staring at Noin in the same style.

"Haven't I told you Lady Sally?" Lu tilted her head slightly. "Well I met Lady Anne when she was with her father on a business trip to my home. Our fathers have important news to converse and so most of the time, she stayed with me. That is until her father had to leave for Germany and she left with him. 

"Although we only spent a short period of time together, we had developed a strong friendship and so I sent her letters and we kept in contact. During quite a few of her holidays, she stayed with me and the last time I saw her was the last holiday when Lady Sally visited me."

Everyone stared at her blankly, wondering where this mysterious friendship had popped out from. "Hold it Noin, how come _I didn't see her when I came to stay?"_

"Well you came half a day late. Come to think of it, Anne never mentioned to me about her marriage."

Suddenly, Treize let out a soft laughter. "I'm sure Anne has her reasons." 

"I'm hungry, can we stop for a break, perhaps at an inn where I can sit and possibly relax?" Noin stated with stretching arms, without waiting for the others, she hurried her horse towards the post where she could leave him there for a drink. The others, needless to say were feeling rather hungry too. They only had a small breakfast that morning, nothing that could let the stomach stay constantly full until midday. A soft breeze whizzed through the wide opened windows, blowing on its victims. Sally instantly shivered, rubbing her arms with her hands effectively. 

"Are you cold Sally? Let's get your cloak from the pack. I have to get mine as well," Noin suggested. She walked outside, with Sally following right behind, leaving both gentleman to chuckle to themselves and converse about how young ladies were no match with the wind. 

Once outside, Lu gestured for Sally to move quickly as if to say there was not much time. They quickened their pace and mounted their horses. Although both creatures were unsure of what their riders were doing and why they were leaving their other two companions behind, they obediently followed the orders from a simple squeeze. Trot, trot, trot. The hooves clomped on the ground leaving evidence of their leave. "I can't believe we're doing this, running away from the two most respected gentlemen," Sally giggled childishly whilst straightening up her shirt. Lu grinned mischievously. Her bangs fell down slightly, beginning to obscure her mysterious blue eyes. "I wonder when will those two find out we're gone." She glanced from her friend back to the inn that was just fading away from her view. "Actually, I don't wanna know. I prefer those two not finding out." With a yell, she hurried her horse into a gallop.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"How long does it take those two ladies to get their cloaks?" Milliardo sighed sipping his tea that had just been served. "Their drinks are going to go cold." Treize stood up without a warning and stepped towards the window. He shook his head and sighed inwardly. "What's the matter Treize?"

"Don't you think it's the least bit suspicious? I mean, they've been gone for more than two minutes," Treize uttered. Staring at him, Milliardo looked as clueless as ever. "They've left already, Prince Charming." Treize sounded regretful. "Perhaps we shouldn't have let them come out in the first place." Milliardo continued staring at him, his eyes never leaving Treize's head. Actually it seemed more like he was staring through Treize as if he were transparent, visible. "Let's get going Milliardo. We've got to chase them back before the public recognise us as the stupidest pair who've been foiled by two palace ladies."

"I'm sure they'll be fine Treize. Let's enjoy today as if it's a nice hunting party, not a wild goose chase."

Two bubbly teenagers swarmed around the market stalls, their horses taking up most of the road. They touched neatly carved gems with the tips of their fingers, admiring the handiwork. "They're so beautiful," Sally remarked with a delighted squeal. The old woman owning the store smiled at both customers, exposing her worn down teeth. 

"Are you two young gentlemen buying a present for your lovers?" she asked in a soft grandmotherly-like voice.

Noin shook her head subtly and plucked a coin from her coin purse, "We'll take these two." She dropped the coin into the old woman's hand and took a dark purple-blue gem shaped like a miniature eggplant while Sally selected a jade green one. Behind her, Twister nudged her gently with his nuzzle, indicating that he no longer wanted to spend time in the crowded market where everyone was brushing his rear. The red-orange mare beside him snorted, amused. "Alright Twister, we'll leave this place as long as you don't slobber on me anymore." They travelled out of the market and to a large patch of bare land that had only grass a several trees for a few hundred metres. Lucretzia and Sally settled under a tree while the two creatures nibbled on the dry grasses that were fresh out of juice.

Lazing under the shade, the two girls inspected their newly bought jewels when they suddenly heard a frightened but loud shout from somewhere. The horses immediately stopped their feasting and perked their eyes up, listening for any signs of danger. Lu whistled for the two horses to return. Her blade poked out from her sleeve, unsheathed, prepared. Everybody was focussing their attention towards where the sound came from. It was a desperate wail, a wail for release. From the voice, they knew that whoever was in trouble, it was only a child. "Let me go!" The voices were clearer now, seeming only a hundred metres away or so and since they were on the bottom of a slope, they couldn't see any father than the hill peak. "Let me go you bullies!" 

Noin felt a tugging in her heart to go help the child who was in need of rescuing. "Stay here Sally," she whispered into her friend's ear. Before Sally could retrain her from leaving, the girl was already climbing up the slope, her blade held firmly in own hand. The shouts never ceased and if Sally were to call back Lu, she would reveal her position to the enemies, however many there were. What if there was an entire raiding pack? Then Noin would be in deep trouble and even her bravery, confidence or her blade would save her. _I hope you know what you're doing Noin because I don't._

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

**_A/N: __It's another cliffie! *runs off to a far distance* I haven't written cliffies for long though. It's only this time and I've done my best to keep you readers interested in this story and so far it seems to be progressing quite well since there are still people trying to throw tomatoes at me in chapter 5 ^.^_**

**_Disclaimer: __Although I've wished many times, over and over, again and again, I don't seem to be able to get my hands on the 'GW owner's certificate', perhaps it's time to take action or just keep on wishing that I owned something in Gundam Wing. I know, Diamondflame, that's what you can get me for my birthday! It'll save you time on Friday to go looking for one ^.^_**

_Diamondflame__: No way! How many times have I told you that I can't afford anything like that right now?! I've got my kitty to take care of and I can't even afford to buy a whole series of anime… ^.^;;_

_Chibi Tsuki: Fine then… Can you get me a PS2?_

_Diamondflame__: In your dreams! _


	6. The Raiders

**A ****Palace**** of ****Disaster******

Chibi Tsuki

**_A/N:__ Sorry I totally didn't feel like typing at all for the past few weeks. Sorry pplz so this time I'm just going to get carried away with this little journey that I decided Noin would go on and most likely get into trouble for when she get back to the palace. So read on! _****Beware, there is mild swearing, don't say I didn't warn you! Please read the last author's notes as well after the story because I really need you suggestion. But no peeking yet!**

Chapter 6

The Raiders 

Noin felt a tugging in her heart to go help the child who was in need of rescuing. "Stay here Sally," she whispered into her friend's ear. Before Sally could retrain her from leaving, the girl was already climbing up the slope, her blade held firmly in own hand. The shouts never ceased and if Sally were to call back Lu, she would reveal her position to the enemies, however many there were. What if there was an entire raiding pack? Then Noin would be in deep trouble and not even her bravery, confidence or her blade would save her. _I hope you know what you're doing Noin because I don't…_

                                                                                                               ~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Silently ascending the hill, Lucretzia hugged the slope's edge, the frame of the bushes covering her quite well, for now. She felt herself quiver with excitement, the thrill and danger just waiting around the bushes. But she knew what she did was awfully foolish. She hadn't even surveyed her situation or her enemy. Who knew what lay behind the green? The soles of her boots met the grass silently as she ventured closer and closer. Her private tutor had taught her to focus on what she was doing but not let anything, sound, motion to pass her senses. She could hear the slight whistle of the wind as clearly as she could hear the child squeal and by the sound of things, he seemed to be wrestling with all his might. Lucretzia peeked through the greenery, spying only one sniggering man sitting on a tree stump, laughing. That cruel consistent laughing highly tuned with mockery. But the raven-haired youth did not let this take over her actions before she knew whether there were more. No, there had to be more, the child and his tormentor. She repositioned herself so that she could see more of the other side, where the man was facing. Just hidden slightly by the leaves were two figures, one struggling furiously away from his captor. "Let me go!"

Noin had heard this time repeated several hundred times but the child's yells and shouts were of no use. That seemed to be all of them, no more unless they were somewhere else. She would've made sure if she could but the bushes limited her to this small view. Bursting out of the bushes, Noin shouted in her commanding voice, "Let him go this instance1" 

The two men were both muscular and bulky. The one who was sitting down had grown a thick black moustache, his wild scraggly hair matched his rough clothes and physical shape well. Compared to him, the other looked slightly better polished. In fact he looked much cleaner and his holes were mended but to Noin, they were both the enemy. She did not judge on looks or appearances, she judged on actions and emotions, which usually got the better of her. 

"So we have another visitor. How can we help you, young gentleman?" the one holding the boy by the arm enquired, his eyes dancing triumphantly. 

"Let the boy go!"

"Sure thing, but we do require a trade," the other uttered in a deep voice.

Noin continued to hold her blade firmly, her eyes never leaving two ruffians. "What sort of trade? Gold, jewellery, diamonds? Those I have none of."

The cleaner of the two paused for a second before suggesting an offer, "How about you for the boy?"

"What do you want him for? He's just another foolish man looking for trouble!" retorted the sitting man.

"Burt, shut up!" the other snapped and slowly focussed his attention back on Noin. "Or even better, the young woman who came with you."

_Oh shit! Noin flung her head around, down the slope and through the bushes. She could sort of see Sally through the leaves, tussling with two men alike the ruffians before her. "Sally!" She jumped through the bushes, totally forgetting about the ones behind her. Her feet trampled the damp grass. "Let her go!" Noin ordered as the girl pulled against the force of the taller and stronger men. She had half managed to get their grasp off her but they continued to grab for her arm no matter how hard she struggled, if only she could get her hands on her blade._

Furiously, Lucretzia swung her blade before her, casting deadly but accurate sweeps. Her swift rapid movement were invisible to their eyes and the two holding onto Sally found their belt slit in half and their pants dangling around their knees. In an instant, Sally was running towards Noin, her hands covering her face while the other youth was tilting her eyesight away from the men. Noin gestured for Sally to seek cover between the two horses that stood away from the action; most likely Sally called them away just in case they were injured or hurt in any way. Noin glanced up at charging pair, their fists like a bull's horn. Their angry cries made a flock of birds flee from the shaded trees, calling in alert as they fled.  Holding her ground, the young disguised princess gulped and spun her sharp blade with her left hand, hoping to scare them away for a while as she devised an impromptu plan. 

Suddenly she tucked the blade back into her sheath and pulled her fists in a guarding position, ready for an attack. Noin was definitely glad she had managed to persuade her father to let her learn fighting techniques. She unleashed a continuing quick series of fists, slamming her knuckles hard into their ribs. In less than ten minutes time, she leapt back to watch the end results; they fell. Her eyes darted from the defeated to the ones holding the child hostage. No words were spoken, no sounds were heard except for the cooling afternoon breeze. Both men looked at each other, beads of sweat sliding down the sides of their faces, they were nervous. Now they were no longer those big bullies that had appeared to be, they were already defeated, their spirits were down and that was the part when they decided to flee. 

Once they had departed, leaving the tired boy behind, Lucretzia made her way up to him, checking to see if he was in any condition to walk. "Hey kid, are you alright?" 

"Yes sir," he replied in a polite voice, dipping his head slightly in respect.

"When was the last you ate?" Noin offered a hand and lifted him up to a standing position. He was not quite as short as he had seemed earlier, perhaps slightly taller than Hilde. His thick blonde bangs hung above his expression hazel green eyes.

"Two nights ago, sir." The boy seemed gentle under his scrawny appearance.  

"Come with me, I'll get you something to eat and drink before you faint." She led him towards Sally and the horses, standing a certain distance away from the two unconscious men.  "By the way, my name's Noin and my friend is Sally."

The young blonde looked up at the two ladies and responded, his smile never erased from his face. "My name is Quatre Winner. Pleased to meet you two and thank you very much for rescuing me from those tyrants. There are more out there and letting those two go might've been a big mistake they might revenge and I've pulled you two into this." He brought his hand out which Noin look acceptingly.

"No problem Quatre, I'm not afraid of tyrants and ruffians. Let's get you refreshed before they do decide to attack, right Sally?"

Sally nodded her head cheerfully and a shade of pink was visible on his face.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Now great, where could those two have disappeared to?" Treize growled, using a hand to stop the sun's rays shining into his eyes. 

"Where did the cool and calm Treize go two? Relax a bit," Milliardo suggested, squeezing through people with his horse grunting behind him. 

"How can you stay calm when a lady and a princess on the loose like wild animals?"

Milliardo glanced at him, lifting up an eyebrow. "So you're referring our lady and princess as animals now eh? Wait 'til King Noin hears that from you. I truthfully wonder what he'll think."

"You're not helping dear Prince."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The sun was ready to vanish behind the horizon and the stars were appearing in the darkening sky. Three travellers continued their way steadily, avoiding isolated places where they could be surrounded by unwanted company. They had stopped quickly at an inn and continued their journey once they had finished their meal. Lu knew her father would be rather angry if they didn't arrive home soon before night had come and without their two guards. The thought popped into Lucretzia's mind and she instantly explained their situation to Sally beside her. "Hey Sally, do you have any good excuses for not going back with the other two?" 

"I've been thinking about that too. I seriously have no idea. Perhaps we could tell your father that we encountered Quatre here and the other two were fighting the raiders off and so they told us to leave first," she suggested with a shrug.

Luckily Quatre was drifting off to sleep, his blonde tresses shading the afternoon sun off his eyes. He was too tired to hear any of the spoken conversation and so therefore questioned nothing. Lucretzia glanced at the small boy seated with her in the same saddle. He reminded of her one person. No two people to be correct. The first one was her little brother whom she'd left at home away from all possible danger. Andre was just like this boy; innocent, polite and a young gentleman. The other, well the other person Quatre reminded her of was of course Prince Milliardo who too blushed when females smiled in a more friendly way to him than romantically. Quatre was just like the shy, blushing side of the young prince. 

The trio had been travelling for a short while now; each step meant that they would be a step closer to reaching home. Lucretzia let out a yawn, using her arm to cover it. "Aren't you ever sick of dressing up as a male Noin?" Sally cast a questioning look towards her friend.

"No not really, I find that male's get more casual clothes to wear. Besides, they're much more comfortable than skirts and dresses," Noin replied rather softly. Suddenly her senses rose and her face transformed from the tired, sleepy look to an alert and concentrating appearance. Something didn't seem right and Noin was usually good at sensing such feelings. She didn't know if they were emotions of physical abilities that affected her in such a way but whatever power gave her such senses, she appreciated them. "Who's there!" she demanded, startling Quatre from his sleep who woke up with a jolt. "Reveal yourself you coward! Stop sneaking around the civilians and ambushing them!" The harsh tone scared Sally a bit but she knew that Noin never liked such people who did that to the innocent. 

"Well, well, well," a voice chuckled as a figure appeared from behind the dim-red leaves, "I didn't expect you to have realised us so soon. But we have been here long enough to have heard your conversation. So you're a female warrior; something new for a change." Slowly, Noin and Sally could see the character's shady face, his dark bushy eyebrows and dim-lit eyes portrayed a sense of cool roughness in him. But of course, his style of clothes and weapon accented this even more. His chosen weapon was a wide curved sword with a rather thick edge and his deer-skin cloak reached down to his knees. Hands wrapped in leather bandages gripped the sword loosely, hiding sections of scars. Lucretzia gulped she had never really faced anyone who looked as formidable as this man in a real battle before. In fact she had never seen the danger in the outside world until now but she knew it was too late to turn back. She had come this far to prove that she was _not a little princess whom everyone had stereotyped her to be. She would show her father, she'd show him that she could handle anything, raiders inclusive._

"Are you afraid of me now little girl?" he sniggered at Lucretzia, pointing at her with his pointed chin. The others beside him smirked, showing their gruesome, filthy hairy faces. Sally shuddered at the thought of when they had their last bath. Lucretzia drew her blade, never letting her eyes leave the supposed leader's figure. "You won't be harmed in any way if you come with us. Let me assure you that." 

His lingering smirk disgusted the young princess to a point where she only scowl at him, "Watch your mouth you filthy beast! Never judge a book by its cover, for all you know I may be lethal."

Unfortunately, this did not scare or intimidate the giant one bit. Instead seemed rather amused, if that was how one would put it in a situation like the one she was in. Waking from his dream-like state, Quatre finally realised what was happening; they were being attacked by the raiders who had destroyed their camp when he and the merchants had been resting that night, alarming the entire group who fled without care for the others. Only several travellers had stayed to protect Quatre but these ruffians overpowered them and left them bruised, beaten and unconscious, taking the boy away from his people. But only then did he realise that his saviour was actually a women, dressed in male attire. He noticed her dangling strands of her long silky hair until her hat with its stylish feature. It was rather strange, watching her wear the hat but Quatre would've thought that it suited her neatly if it weren't for the danger around them.

Both horses backed away, their front hooves close to treading on their hind ones. They weren't scared but their instincts told them to flee since they were flight animals. But in the narrow trail, they were surrounding by trees that leaned closely together, whispering secrets and also the numerous raiders, staring at the two maidens with greed and selfishness. Held stiffly in her right was a sword, and in the other hand was the tight grip on the reins that made her skin flecked with deathly white patches. Sally trembled slightly, loosening and tightening her grip on the weapon. Her horse could sense her uneasiness and neighed softly, trying her best to calm her rider down. If her rider lost her senses then she wouldn't have the faintest idea which direction to head since she knew nothing of the cunning and sly human race.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Milliardo hurried his horse with spoken commands. The sky continued to darken but it never seemed to quite able to disappear altogether. Both gentlemen were tensed, knowing that their two ladies were somewhere, perhaps lost or maybe they had returned home. Neither gentlemen were certain what to do at this point, surely they would wait before returning since it was the more intellectual way to avoid trouble. The pair had taken the original route back to the palace, hoping to bump into the ladies on their way home but as they entered the main palace gates, they realised that they hadn't passed them at all. But there was still another half an hour to ride before they would reach the stables, perhaps they were there.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

**_A/N: __Hehehe__, another cliffie! Sorry my dear, loyal readers. I hope you didn't mind my lateness, due to my slackness and school assignments (which the teachers don't mind piling up on our 'to do' list). _****Now, what will happen to Noin, Sally and our new little merchant boy Quatre?! That's for you to decide because:**

_1) __I think there should be some time that my dear readers involve themselves a little bit more into this story._

_2) __I don't have any idea as to which direction I want to go._

_3) __It may be more appealing to the readers because I might blabber on and ruin the story any time now…_

_That's all for the current list. Well we have two directions to go. The first one being…_

_a) __Noin, Sally and Quatre wind up being caught by the raiders with Zechs and Treize on their way to rescue our damsels in distress!_

_b) __The trio manage to overcome these evil raiders somehow… with our two young nobles' help or not… (That **I decide.)**_

_So what do you think? All readers MUST participate (well you don't **have to but I just advise it so I can release the next chappie out sooner) and pick a thingie… a, or b. Also, other suggestions are also welcome! ^.^ I don't mind if you add lots of extra ideas in either.**_

_Ok enough blabbering on… (like always) and yeh… btw, I'll deny all who states I own GW and try to steal my measly pocket money of $5! Got my point? Until next time, cyas!_


	7. Battle: Lost or Won?

**A ****Palace**** Of ****Disaster******

Chibi Tsuki

**_A/N: __Woah__, I was pretty surprised when I checked the reviews the next day, talk about updated! I'm so happy, I finally managed to write the YYH fic I've thought about in my head for quite a while. If anyone likes Kurama… (*drool*) Yes I know you do Diamondflame, then please go ahead and read ^.^  _**

Chapter 7

Battle: Lost or Won?

Sally gripped onto her sword tightly, moisture caused her hands to loosen her grip which she adjusted several times. Approaching were the raiders, their contented and greasy smile flickering from smirk to hideous grin. Slowly she glanced at her friend who was settled in her saddle like her but slightly more confident. She was a good pretender but after knowing her for so long, Sally knew that they weren't in a positively stable condition. "Leave Sally," Lucretzia ordered firmly, her bold features still supported a confident smile. "I'll handle this easily. With you in the way it may be more dangerous."

"I'm not leaving!" she yelled in refusal while continuing to face their foes. 

"Go!" the courageous princess slapped her friend's horse in the rump, scaring the mare into a galloping retreat. Before the honey blonde girl realised what Noin had done, she had caught the silent signal, she had turned her wrist up and down twice, flashing the short silver chain that was attached to her assorted coloured glove that had finger holes in which the fingers showed. Quatre gulped, unsure of what this girl was doing but there was this feeling that made him trust her and that what she was doing was right. "Hold on Quatre," her soft quiet feminine voice sounded into his eardrum. Following her advise, he held on stiffly onto the stallion's mane, gripping the dry mane that once would've felt slightly silky but now it was just dust left. Obviously this horse had had much better times than to be involved in battles. 

Lu tugged onto the reins lightly, pulling it downwards with one hand while whirling the blade him her hand. Front hooves lifted upwards wildly, supplemented with a loud forceful neigh and the stomping of hooves. The large Thoroughbred towered over the now not-so-tall ruffians, his smaller rider held onto him with slight difficulty. But Lucretzia Noin now felt taller and more powerful as Twister leapt at his enemies using his muscular image to scare them before they could defend. He landed on the quickly cleared area, kicking with his back legs while Lu tried to control the front line of offenders. The pair had managed to keep away the raiders so far without as much as a scratch. Soon the gang had reduced to half its men, will the help of Quatre who swung his twisted jacket around like a rope, smashing as many enemies as they could. 

Breathing deeply, Sally Po tried to regain her breath whilst hoping that Noin had been able to fend off the raiders until she reappeared. She was to surprise them unexpectedly so that they would take the blow and fall, but not harshly enough to kill them. If she concentrated enough, she could merely hear her friend's war cries and the merchant boy's weapon assault when it scored a hit. She guided the mare around in one circle before charging off again, this time ready pumped and alert.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"They haven't returned yet!" Milliardo yelled as he ran towards his horse and remounted. 

Treize paused, "What do you mean they haven't returned yet?" His face was frustrated and angry, not to mention worried at the same time. He whipped his rein around and jerked on the horse's mouth, ordering a fast-paced gallop. Milliardo followed suit, cursing himself inwardly for being stupid and say that the two would be alright. 

The three riders dismounted, grinning from ear to ear with pure satisfaction. Sally's sword tip traced the scar marks on the arm of the one who had claimed to be their 'formidable' leader. Now he was no so formidable after all. Standing beside her, the dark-haired girl shook her head with a sigh, ushering her friend to leave. "Come on Sally, let's go. Our parents are waiting for us," she tugged at her friend's sleeve who simply rolled her eyes, then staring into the man's scared, timid eyes which pleaded for release. 

"Fearless no more, eh?" Sally grinned contentedly as she showed some of her own power. "Noin, what do we do with bullies who turn out to be cowards?" Waving a hand, Noin dismissed the questions and approached the stallion that was becoming rather impatient, his hoof digging into the track, causing a hole. Finally Sally felt that she had had enough excitement for one day and stepped back away from the raider, his remaining men were too weak to remove themselves from the floor of a frequently used latrine for animals.

Suddenly, they heard the galloping of hooves coming towards them. Instantly, Sally, Noin and Quatre lifted up their weapons, ready to fend off the coming people if they were to be enemies like the raiders.  But Lu's lips formed a smile when she recognised the horses but when her eyes glanced at the riders, she felt rather disappointed. "Oh, it's Duke Kushrenada and Prince Milliardo. Do make way for these two young gentleman," she said sarcastically and beckoned for Quatre to mount the horse before she did.

"Are they really the characters you speak of?" Quatre's face lit with excitement, his heart abruptly pounded madly. He made a quick bow after Noin had confirmed this fact with a nod of her head. "Quick, dear saviour, you'd better bow before these two like I. If not they would deem it impolite and disrespectful to them." By the time he had spoken, Milliardo was already walking towards them on foot, leading his horse towards them. Lu hid a cheeky grin behind her hand and bowed at the approaching gentlemen. 

"I didn't think you'd come at all," Lu laughed.

Celurious Noin lifted his eyebrows while he waited for an explanation from the four teenagers, they had been late back home in a mess, missed dinner and brought back a young merchant boy. "Milliardo, Treize, you two can leave. Lucretzia, Sally, I want a word with you two," he stated, and then his eyes fell upon Quatre. "Child, you can leave with them." Quatre bowed politely and left with the older teenagers, his knees weakened by fear and a surge of happiness. They shut the door quietly, leaving the two young ladies in their lecture session. The broad shouldered man seated himself behind the desk, papers stacked neatly on one side. The room was decorated plainly but effectively, a family portrait hung near the doorway next to a old wooden grandfather clock. Only entering this room for the fifth time in her entire life, Lucretzia continued to admire her father's comfortable room until he broke the silence. "Lucretzia, Sally, why are you four so late in returning home? Did I not mention that you had to be back by dinner?" he demanded in his low charming voice.

"Well by the time we returned to the closest village, the sky was already darkening and we thought that you would've had dinner already and so we decided to stay at the inn for dinner," Lucretzia replied, forcing herself to think normally and a step ahead of her father.

Raising his bushy eyebrows, Celurious shifted positions. "What did you have for dinner Lady Sally?"

Sally gulped subtly and spoke, "It was chicken and mushroom with bread, I believe, Your Highness."

"Are you sure Lady Sally? If I recall, the chickens have contracted a disease and it's been killing them."

Sweat slid down her forehead but she took no notice of it and tried to relax. "Your Highness, I'm positive it was chicken, although I must say the disease was several months ago." Celurious gestured for them to leave the room which they did so gladly.

"That was a close call," Lu muttered once they were quite a distance away from the room. "Trust my Father to test us."

Sally breathed out, regaining some courage. "But it's not the first time." 

"True." A grumble from their stomachs reminded them that they hadn't eaten since lunch and it was already well past eight. "I wonder where Quatre and the others are. Let's go get some food from the kitchen first."

Sally grabbed onto her shoulder before she headed down the stairs. "Wait, we 'did' have dinner you know. What if your father finds out that we were lying?" Lucretzia paused and sighed. "So I guess we'll just have to wait until midnight." Lu slapped her forehead at Sally's comment and trudged down the stairs anyway, her feet slapping the floor. "Where are we going?" Her friend shrugged, leaving Sally to follow aimlessly behind.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Quatre, having slept in one of the guest rooms appeared in the dining room early in the morning, helping the servants arrange the table. At first everyone suspected him to be of great wealth and rather dignified but he turned out to be a charming, polite boy who did he share of work, something which they least expected. The first person notice Quatre helping out was a half-awake Hilde, who kept asking the blonde about his origins. "So where you from and why are you here? When are you going to leave?"

The blonde-haired child happily replied. "I'm from Saudi Arabia, south-east of here, Italy. It's very beautiful there, the skies are usually light blue but there's desert. My father is a sort of lord in Saudi Arabia, one of the King's advisors I suppose. But I don't know how I'm going to contact my family though. You see, I wasn't meant to come here in the first place and now I've been separated from my people." His voice had lowered to a soft whisper.

The girl leapt onto the wooden chair, full of vigour and high spirits, Hilde stated boldly, "No problem Quatre, you're my sister's friend so that makes you my friend. We'll help you until you get home! And you know what?" Quatre glanced up at Hilde through his cleaned bangs. "It's nice having more friends my age around here, it gets rather boring here without someone to play with. The more the merrier!"

"Get down here Hilde Noin!" 

The pair looked towards the speaker and instantly Quatre heard a gulp and then the hurried actions of his new friend. The speaker was a beautiful, no astonishing woman in her early thirties, with twirling amber hair and a gracious smile. She approached them, a smile directed at Quatre and an unhappy scowl at Hilde. "Sorry Ma," Hilde muttered and curtseyed respectfully at her mother. Quatre quickly bowed, finally realising that this was definitely someone well respected.

"Master Winner, how did you end up here all the way in Italy?" Hilde's mother asked in her soft friendly voice. 

Dumbfounded, the young Arabian looked into the lady's beautiful brown eyes. "How do you know my last name, Your Highness?"

"Let's just say we've met before, many years ago. Does your father know that you're here?"

"Yes, he probably realised that I left with Rashid but I was separated from them when some people raided us, Your Highness."

"Stay with us for a while Master Winner," Adelie, Hilde's mother suggested, "since it'll be a while until your father comes to pick you up."

 Quatre accepted the kind offer without any reluctance and asked the lady whether they could search for Rashid and the other travellers.

Lu's eyes widened when she heard of Quatre's background, "Gee Quatre, you've got a fancy family there. Imagine all those sisters and not a single brother, I would've left the hustle and bustle a lot sooner than you did. One sister's already enough sisters for me."

"Thanks a lot," Hilde growled, poking her sister harshly in the ribs. "What about Andre?" She pointed her finger towards her quiet brother who was enjoying himself by playing fetch with one of the hounds.

"What about Andre? He's not a pest unlike some," Lu grinned while the others watched the pair of sisters squabbling and then at the quietest one of all.

"My older sister does influence me quite a bit and that makes me, me."

Sally chuckled, her plaits jiggling up and down as she laughed. "She does have a point Lu." They continued to stay seated for a while, until they heard the growling and fierce barking of Andre's hound. Walking towards them was a boy with messy brown hair and baggy clothes. 

"Princess Lucretzia," the Page muttered, "His Highness wishes to speak with us right now."

"Kievet…" Lu could see the strangeness in his actions, his slow disordered pace and his sorrowful eyes. "I'm sorry we forgot about you yesterday. We were in a rush and I forgot to call you. Please forgive me."

The boy looked up at her, everyone could see that he was trying very hard to suppress his emotions. "It's not that. You'll understand once you talk to your father, he's going to explain everything. Now please, go!" Scarlet with fury, Kievet raced off, back the way he came, tears struggling to stay where they belonged. 

Lu called after him, perplexed and uncertain, unlike before. Without another word spoken, she headed towards the palace, the heels of her shoes digging into the ground. _What's wrong with Kievet, why's he acting this way? She entered the great building through the kitchen in such a hurry, it startled the cooks and servants as they tried to avoid spilling drinks and pots. Her skirt's long length nearly tripped her over several times when she was running and her light-coloured blouse flapped slightly on the mid-length sleeves. When she saw her father at the room where he served his guests, Lucretzia slowed to a walk and fixed her clothes while regaining her breath. What was to happen? She suddenly noticed the tension in herself but dared not to wonder why she was feeling like this, was it Kievet's impact on her? The way he spoke to her? Several familiar voices rang through her ears and she remembered them as the King of the Sanc Kingdom's, then she heard another voice; Milliardo's voice. She didn't delay another further and ventured into room, curtseying politely at the guests. Beside her father stood her mother, looking as stunning as ever and opposite him were King Naolan and his son, looking strikingly alike. _

"Lucretzia dear, you've come at last. We were just discussing about your marriage," Adelie informed, beckoning for her daughter to sit next to her on the grand sofa. Realising what was going to happen she breathed deeply and tried to relax; this was coming all too soon. They seemed to be trying to get rid of her, at the earlier balls, the recent one and any other social functions, their parents were trying to find her a partner. But she refused to let her feelings power over her. 

"This charming young prince is going to take your hand in marriage and you two will make an excellent pair," Celurious grinned happily. "So Naolan, when shall the wedding be? When does it suit you?" 

The delighted man seated opposite Celurious chuckled too and thought deeply. "In two days time they shall wed."

"Sounds good, two days, young Princess, two days until you become a bride." Lu felt rather unwanted and dejected while the adults decided to leave Milliardo and Lucretzia to spend some time together, alone. Milliardo lifted his eyes and looked at her, his pale icy blue eyes showed signs of sympathy, but he said nothing, afraid of hurting the girl more. 

"Why does it have to be like this?" she whispered, tears willing to flow. Barely able to make out what she said, Milliardo stepped closer to her. He understood that she wasn't crying because of the one she was to marry but because she was stripped of the freedom she had so well loved. Bringing out a pale handkerchief, he handed it to her and wiped her wet cheeks with it. She sniffed and rubbed her reddened eyes.

"Are you ok Princess Lucretzia?" he questioned, stroking her back gently. The girl nodded in reply and wiped away the last evidence that she had cried, now she knew part of the reason that had made Kievet so angry, but why? Why was as angry as he was? Was it… jealousy? She didn't dare think it was. 

She sighed and fell onto the sofa, her skirt crumpled and creased but she didn't care. White as it was, the ceiling showed no sign of relieving her couped up spirits. "You don't have to stay around if you don't want to Prince Milliardo, I'll be fine." He glanced at her, and shook his head gently.

"I'm not bored, I'll stay with you unless you don't want my company." She suddenly noticed his deep soothing voice and his delicate face with fine light-coloured silky hair covering his eyebrows and ears. A blush crept onto her cheeks as she turned away to hide it.

**_A/N: __So how was this chapter? Although I must admit the battle is rather short, but that doesn't matter. Yowch, I got a blister on my thumb from trying to beat my brother in Pocket Fighter on the PS and then from typing this. I hope you're glad! Review! Review! By the way, I was very surprised and rather happy that everyone reviewed so quickly! Until next chapter/story, Ja ne!_**


	8. Understanding

**A ****Palace**** of ****Disaster******

Chibi Tsuki

**_A/N: __Yay__, another chappie even though it's not that good. Btw, I didn't look through it so please forgive me and my mistakes ^.^;;_**

Chapter 8

Understanding

Once she had assured Milliardo that she would be ok and that he needn't to stay with her, Lucretzia left the room in search of someplace quiet where she could think properly to herself and so she stumbled into the maze. There were only two people who knew the entire structure and routes of the maze off by heart; Lucretzia and Hilde Noin. This was definitely a sanctuary well away from the hustle and bustle of the palace and perhaps the best hiding place ever. She had seated herself in a certain place within the maze that was no where near any capability of being found. As if sensing her distress a particular creature came soaring towards her direction and landed on the top of one of the hedges, peering at her with wide eyes. "Come here Razer," she mumbled under her sniffles. Holding out her hand, the falcon glided over and carefully entrusted his weight on his owner, his talons curled around her hand. Although there was a slight tug of pain by holding the bird bare-handed, Lucretzia didn't care and talked quietly to the bird through her choking and sobs. "I don't understand why they want me to marry. My parents don't seem to realise that I don't want to be married yet, even though Sally will be marrying soon and of all the people, why Milliardo Peacecraft? We're not a match in the inside… even though I must admit he can be quite charming and he is rather handsome." Cocking his head as if he understood what was being said, the bird whistled softly and pecked at Lucretzia's nail softly._ Maybe a ride would cheer me up, I'm always calmer in the meadows anyway. Recollecting herself, she wiped away tears and let her bird sail into the sky again as she made her way out of the maze. _

Behind the last row of hedges, towards the exit, she heard a muffled weeping of tears and endless sniffles. She dared herself to approach the crying person and found Kievet, hugging his knees and wiping away tears when he noticed her appearance. Not trusting himself, Kievet stayed silent and cast a downward glance at his feet, rocking back and forth. "Kievet, are you ok?" the princess asked, her deep blue eyes hidden in concern. The boy merely nodded and continued to rub the back of his hand against his eyes. "Was it because of my marriage that you were upset?" Again, he turned his eyes away, afraid to look into her eyes. "I didn't know it would make you so upset, I'm sorry."

"It's alright Noin," he uttered after clearing his throat. "I guess all you princesses must marry one day or another to some noble. It's not like you can choose freedom over marriage." He didn't know how he was going to express himself; he knew it was silly of him to cry over his friend's marriage but he couldn't help it. "I don't know how to say it, but I don't want to let you go. You're the best friend I've ever known in my entire life and I'll miss you a lot." 

"I'll miss you too Kievet," kneeling beside him, she pulled him into a tight embrace and they stayed like that for a while, both trying to relax over the thought that they might never see each other again. "Come on, let's go for a ride. Now seems to be a good time."

He shook his head gently, a smile on his face. "I can't I should be going to assist my knight, now that I'm a squire."

"You are?" A delightful grin boarded her face as she shook his hand.

"I'm afraid we must part here and now," he looked rather hopeful thought. "Someday, when I'm a knight, I'll come visit you!" Abruptly, he turned around and ran out of the maze leaving Lucretzia yelling words of luck. Sighing, she stood upright and made her way towards the stables, feeling slightly better in spirit. Her falcon continuously circled high above in the sky waiting for its owner's next move.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gleefully, Hilde yelled and waved her arms around when the youngest member of the Peacecraft family approached. "Hey Relena! I didn't see you this morning at breakfast, where were you?" She ushered the girl to join the group, quickly introducing Quatre to Relena. They seemed to have made friends quickly just like the way Hilde and Quatre did. Sally continued to wait for her best friend's return although she had been gone for more than half an hour. Perhaps what they were discussing was fairly important and it was expected of them to talk for quite a while, but something felt wrong. "I wonder where Lu is," the raven-haired girl pouted, waiting anxiously for her sister to come back, "she's taking awfully long." 

"Princess Lucretzia's just probably occupied at the moment, that's all," Quatre suggested with a shrug, his bright smiling eyes dancing like always.

"Maybe. Let's go on a tour around the palace. I'm sure Quatre would like to see it." 

Sally smiled at the enthusiastic youngsters and told them that she was going to find Lu instead. The four children set off, little Andre up front with his canine companion.

Thundering through the moist track, the stallion's head bobbed up and down, his long slender legs leaping off the earth's surface. For a long time, he hadn't tried to gallop at such a fast pace through such a narrow trail, luckily the track was well worn down and none of the sharp rocks could pierce through the tender meat at the sole of his hooves. Rider, horse and falcon slowed down in their pace, now travelling at a slow gentle rhythm; a slow steady canter. All three knew that they were going to arrive at the wider and more spacious meadow soon enough since they memorised the track so well. When at last they reached the meadow as they had expected, the rider dismounted her horse and rolled onto the green carpet of grass. "That was a great ride Twister," she said in a chopped up sentence, breathing deeply. The horse nickered in reply and turned his head at his rug, tugging it with his teeth. Lucretzia rolled to a sitting position and then stood up so that she could take off the rug and the saddle bag. He then indicated that he wanted release from his reins and bridle gear. She carefully lowered the tack too the ground and fell back against the grass. The breeze blew at her hair and bangs, raven-blue strands flying everywhere. In a second, she had fallen asleep under the blissful sunlight. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Frowning, Milliardo stared endlessly at the blue sky, speechless. He was trying to pour his emotions into the empty sky and right now it seemed to be succeeding. At first the thought of their engagement wasn't that serious until now; he was to be married, to be chained to a life where he would have to be devoted to one person and stay loyal to her. Truthfully, it didn't affect him as much as it affected her since he was on the more dominant side of both genders, but still he couldn't process the fact that he would have to live with this girl whom he'd only met two weeks ago.

"Milliardo, I heard the news," Treize uttered as he strode towards the quiet prince. "I came here to congratulate you but it seems as if you aren't celebrating."

Milliardo avoided eye contact with his friend and murmured, "What's the point if the girl doesn't want to marry-"

"And neither does the future bridegroom," Duke Kushrenada finished for him, taking a seat beside him. "I understand how you feel, Anne and I were until we met and finally fell in love. Her smiles, although rare, are always dazzling and her beauty is magnificent. Princess Lucretzia is just alike but her smiles are more frequent. Think positive."

Shaking his head, the prince sat up and looked at his friend. "I don't really mind marrying Lucretzia, it's just that it makes me feel as if I've deprived her of her freedom. It makes me rather guilty and I don't want her hating me for her entire life."

"Someone else will if you don't, there are many nobles out there who wouldn't even think about her except her beauty and body. She'll be grateful that you're marrying her and not some self-centred, snobby noble."

The platinum blonde haired prince chuckled softly and commented, "It seems as if you're an expert in love and emotions. Maybe you want to help people with their emotions, I'm sure the ladies won't mind." They both laughed heartily at Treize's reply,

"Perhaps I should start off with helping my future wife before I help anyone else."

Darkened skies meant lighting candles and with her best friend disappeared, Sally could only worry. She had questioned many maids and servants for the whereabouts of their princess but to Sally's dismay, they didn't know. _Where are you Lu? Only a short while after leaving Hilde and her band, Sally had seen Lu's father wandering about the palace with his wife and the present King of the Sanc Kingdom, but there was no trace of Lucretzia. The adults were talking contentedly about arrangements for something and didn't even notice Sally when they passed her. They didn't seem to be frustrated or angry in any way and she knew that Lu would definitely go search for her after the discussion like a good host, but instead she had… vanished. Unable to bring herself to tell anyone of Lu's disappearance in case of causing unwanted trouble, Sally kept the information to herself. But the thing was, dinner was coming up soon and Lu was expected to be dining with her parents. Passing Lucretzia's mother, Sally told her that she and Lucretzia were going to have dinner in the garden instead and Hilde just happened to be there, asking whether she could join in, along with the others. Unable to refuse the hopeful gang, Adelie could only agree and released them from the boredom of the palace for the night although Sally did have other ideas._

When Adelie left the youngsters to talk by themselves, Sally rushed outside followed by the four. "Sally, where are we going to eat for dinner?" Andre piped up, something he hadn't done for a while. "I'm getting hungry." 

"You four go get some dinner from the kitchen, I'm just going to go around for a walk before I come," she replied, leaving the young teenagers slightly confused. Once she was out of hearing distance, she cursed to herself and glanced around nervously. _Where are you Lu? You never leave like this, not without talking to me; there's something wrong, I know it, but what? Close to yelling out in frustration, Sally suddenly felt a hand settle on her shoulder. Immediately turning around with slight hope, she only frowned when she saw the person. _

"What's the matter Lady Po?" Milliardo asked worriedly. "Duke Kushrenada and I have noticed you walking around the entire afternoon, did you lose anything?" Beside him Treize wore the same look on his face.

"It's Lu. I've been looking for her for an entire day and she still hasn't turned up. I know something must be in her mind that must be affecting her really deeply but I just don't know where she is." Both gentlemen glanced away, unable to look at Sally's eyes. "You're both hiding something, please tell me." She had such a worried tone in her voice that neither could keep it away from her because inside, they were afraid even if they didn't show it.

Treize spoke first, his head dipping low but not low enough to hide his eyes from Sally since she was quite a bit shorter than him, "Princess Lucretzia's father has arranged her marriage."

"Who is she marrying- No that's not important right now, let's just find her!" She pressed her sweaty palms against both sides of her head in frustration and quickly released the pressure. "Alright, now where would she be?"

"Perhaps you should ask her sister," Milliardo suggested, supplementing the comment with a shrug. Sally nodded and without another word rushed off. "She might need our help." The pair followed quickly after her.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lucretzia sat up as grass bits fell out of her hair and back to the dampened ground, she blinked several times and yawned. "It's dark already and there's dew." She rubbed her eyes gently and waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. Luckily the sun was still fading which meant there was still a little source of light left. Whistling she stood up and stretched her sore limbs. "Twister," she grinned when at last the horse approached, trotting smoothly. He neighed and instantly rubbed his large face against her arm. "Oi," Lu growled and playfully pushed the head away. "Let's go home." Once she set the rug back in place and emptied the rest of the flask, they left. Above them, a piercing falcon-call sounded through the night sky.

"There's no need to find Lu, she's coming back," Hilde simply replied while trying to hide her subtle hints of awareness to the night sounds. "Bailey cried." She munched delightedly into her roll and ignored the older teens. 

"Bailey? Who's Bailey?" Treize asked in an unusually soft voice.

"Shinigami number two!" Andre grinned after gulping down his apple juice. Everyone stared at the siblings in confusion.

Suddenly, Sally's eyes lit up in recognition. "Her falcon!" 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

**_A/N: __I decided to release this chapter quickly before I make the next wait long again. I personally thought this chapter was rather pathetically written so please don't mind my rush._**


	9. Bonded By the Vow and Ring

**A ****Palace**** of ****Disaster******

Chibi Tsuki

**_A/N: __Exams are over and I'm back on track. Wow, looking down at this chapter, it seems as if we've come a long way. It's already chapter 9 and we may only have a few more chapters left until the end. I'm no good at describing clothes so please forgive me. This chapter is rated… very slightly sappy? ^.^;;_**

Chapter 9

Bonded By the Vow and Ring

Lucretzia sighed, looking at her mirror reflection; a quiet girl, wearing a beautiful blue and white wedding dress as blue represented purity and faithfulness. The dress hung on her shoulders, with a wide cut. The cuffs were tight at her wrist with rather puffy white sleeves and another cuff at her biceps. The white cloth was layered with a layer of blue, bringing out the beauty of the dress. A necklace hung around her neck, its silver chains cold against her skin. Her hair was neatly brushed and scented, wavy curls following down to her elbows. The dress flowed downwards, displaying colours of blue and white. "Lucretzia dear, go out and make us proud us," Adelie smiled, placing slender hands on her daughter's shoulders. "You look magnificent." Keeping silent throughout the entire time, Lucretzia cast a downwards glance and meekly smiled. "Don't be late for your own wedding Lu." The bride was guided out of her room by her mother and they exited the palace, while servants smiled at the child they had known for so long finally grow up. Since the cathedral was out of the palace walls so that the villagers were able to access it, they travelled there by carriage. When she looked forwards at the carriage horses, she noticed her own stallion strutting proudly as he pulled her carriage. It was hilarious to watch the big war-horse walk striding in longer steps than the proper carriage horses. Lu smiled at the hopeless stallion and then glanced out of the carriage, wondering where Sally was. She was most likely there already or arriving soon like the other guests. When Sally first found out about her engagement to Prince Milliardo, she was shocked and more or less angry. Lucretzia didn't know what to say then but when she though back at the situation, it was rather funny.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Flashback

Sally rushed to Lu as she appeared from the darkness, her riding clothes unusually dirtied with dry mud and grass all over her boots and grass sticking out of her matted hair. "Where have you been?" Sally demanded, her eyes full of worry.

"Riding," Lu replied in a monotone, ignoring the worried look Milliardo directed towards her. She wasn't in the mood to face the reality at the present moment and Sally wasn't really helping; not this time anyway. "I'm fine Sally, seriously."

Loosening the tension built within her, Sally smiled supportively. "Hey, I heard that you're engaged, to whom?"

Suddenly, a loud startled yell was released. "What? Lu's marrying someone?" Hilde frowned and dashed up towards the older girls. "Who's taking my Lu away?" Her voice was more than demanding, it was actually threatening. "Whoever he is, I'll make sure he won't be able move for an entire week!" She noticed Milliardo looking rather hesitant in staying around. "There's no need to be afraid Mr Milliardo because he's not you." Hilde smiled happily at him before focussing her attention back on her sister. "So who are you marrying Lu? What does he look like? Is he handsome?"

"Do we know him?" Sally asked being just as curious as Hilde.

"Does he have dark hair?"

"From which country?" They continued to repetitively pile her up with questions, leaving her no time to comprehend what they had just asked. Standing away from the three, Milliardo and Treize glanced at each other. Milliardo displayed an expression that called desperately for help.

Relena looked at her brother and then at Lucretzia. She had come up with a reasonable hypothesis and so she spoke up, "Is he my brother?" There was an immediate silence, only the insects continued their nightly chirping.

Suddenly, Hilde burst out laughing and looked at Relena. "That's a good one Relena." Lucretzia's expression said nothing, neither did Milliardo's and Treize's. 

Pipping up, Andre uttered, "It _is Mr Milliardo. That's what Mother said." The youngest boy resumed his silence, much alike his other quiet companion, Quatre. Relena was the first to break the silence, congratulating Lucretzia and her brother, then following by Quatre._

End Flashback

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Lu dear, we've arrived," Adelie held her daughter's hand in her own. "Put on your veil." Obediently, Lucretzia covered her face with the white cloth, letting it hide her face. They disembarked and approached the cathedral, to be greeted by Celurious. The other guests were already inside the massive cathedral and were quiet, listening to the beautiful music within the building. Lucretzia and Milliardo's marriage was a mix of both the Sanc Kingdom's and Italy's traditions to please both sides. Once the rest of the people were inside, Celurious gestured for his daughter to approach. Nervously, Lucretzia placed her hand on her father's arm as she had been instructed and together they walked down the aisle. If it weren't for her veil, everyone would probably notice Lu's quivering lips and shut eyelids. Her heart was beating fast, she felt like a lost child only to be guided by her father. When they were nearly there, Lu opened her eyes again and glanced at Milliardo whose gaze seemed supportive. He held out his left hand and she accepted it with subtle reluctance.

Milliardo waited patiently as the pope spoke, relaying words to the world within the cathedral. _This will be over soon. He held Lucretzia's hand in his, noticing the tremble. Often he glanced at his bride, offering comforting smiles and squeezed her hand softly to reassure her. "Do you Prince Milliardo Peacecraft take Princess Lucretzia Noin as your lawfully wedded wife?" the finally asked, raising his head to look at the couple in the eye._

"I do," Milliardo managed to say without faltering. The pope repeated the question except he switched the names around and waited for Lu to answer.

Lu forced herself to look up at the pope and in a quiet, sorrowful tone she whispered, "I do." She didn't even realise that the pope had announced their marriage, nor did she notice Milliardo insert the diamond ring into her finger on her right hand. The Italians had believed that diamonds were created by the flames of love, thus making it the most appropriate for the ring and marriage that would bind the two together forever. Around her, there were loud applauses which she didn't take notice, she only saw the dimness of the world within her mind. 

"Lu?" Milliardo muttered while everyone waited for him to lift up the veil and expose the bride. Immediately Lucretzia looked up and stared straight at Milliardo's blue eyes with her own as he lifted the veil. The warmth in his icy blue eyes startled her. But luckily she had managed to hide the surprise quickly. Slowly he lowered his lips to hers and kissed her. He didn't dare intrude but instead quickly released her, much to her surprise. It was more like a peck on the lips than a real kiss and Lu was relieved, perhaps it wouldn't be that bad. Around them people started to applause, their loud claps caused a disturbance in the silent village, not that anyone cared because basically everyone was witnessing the marriage ceremony. But it ceremony still wasn't over, there was also the banquet back at home and it was already being prepared as the newly wedded couple returned to the palace. Villagers lined up to watch the couple leave. Time seemed much slowed inside the carriage than in the cathedral. The driver was outside, leading the horses in a slow steady pace while Milliardo and Lucretzia sat side by side. Neither spoke. 

Thinking back to the kiss, Lucretzia felt the same warmth feeling as Milliardo did and had to turn away so that he wouldn't see her blush even though it was dark. She brought up her right hand and brushed it against own lips. That was when she noticed the diamond ring on her finger, simple yet elegant. Lu started to wonder why they hadn't decided on a more expensive ring but she was actually quite happy with the one she received. Jewellery wasn't really her thing. When they finally arrived back at the palace, Milliardo led his wife into the ballroom, where the banquet was going to be held. Lu tugged her hand gently out of Milliardo's and gave him a weak smile. _I'm confused and lost. I feel like a seven year old child again. The ballroom was once again magnificently decorated, much alike the ball not long ago but this time, it was grander and simply just amazing. Playing quietly, an orchestra sounded the hall with beautiful melodious music. People entered behind, also admiring the hall. _

Celurious approached his daughter and kissed her on her cheek, telling her how proud he was of her. Again Lu weakly smiled at him and nodded. Truthfully she wasn't the least bit proud of herself but instead ashamed. She felt so much like leaving all this behind, this world and everything she had known and be like the birds in the sky; free. But her love for her parents had forced her to stay, not admitting her to the exit. In a way, she believed that this was the right thing to do. 

Serving men directed them to the dining hall, where plates, cutlery, glasses and the food were placed out, creating a beautiful image. Lucretzia stood and greeted the guests as they entered like the way she was instructed to. 'Always greet your guests before a banquet or reception of any sort.' She sighed at those spoken words and continued to compliment on the guests, adding more enthusiasm into her voice. This way it was made believable.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When the dining was finally over, Naolan stood up and announced that the dancing should begin. The guests cheered, agreeing in delight and set off to the ballroom once again.  "Milliardo, go dance with her. All the guests have finished and the spotlight's waiting," King Peacecraft whispered, a smug grim on his face as he patted Milliardo on the shoulder and prodded him over to his newly married wife. 

"Lu, can I have this dance?" he asked in a soft comforting tone.

Lucretzia was unable to refuse the offer since her parents were giving her encouraging looks to accept his hand. Together the pair walked to the centre, the music singing with them as they danced. She felt herself being completely washed away again, into that warm, comforting dreamland even though she felt that there was no explanation. Was it because she was with 'him'? But she immediately denied it, telling herself that it couldn't possibly be. That simply wasn't logical, was it? The truth was, she enjoyed this sensation; it made her feel comfortable. 

She spun from his arms and recoiled back again, her slender hand on his shoulder again and his strong supporting hand on her waist. He smiled at the angel before him, unable to hide what he felt. Perhaps he did like her, just not hopelessly in love. There was a difference from liking her there and at that moment to missing her day and night even if she was only a room away. That particular scent of lilies waffled to his nose, making him grin. He adored that flowery scent on her, it made him picture the lakes and beautiful streams and rivers. 

The dance ended soon, to the dismay of the young couple and together they left the warmth of the spotlight so as to let others have some attention. Excusing herself, Lucretzia walked out to the balcony which connected to the ballroom. It was a much quieter place and in fact a beautiful view that showed the detailed lights of the glowing stars within the solar system. How she adored the area beyond the clouds. There were times when she believed that one day, man would be out there on the moon and there they would discover the beauty of outer space. _Would that be possible? I doubt it but perhaps one day, many generations later there may be those who go to space. It seemed to be impossible but to her it was a rather exciting thought. _

"Hey Lu," a voice said softly, sounding rather sympathetic. Lu didn't bother turning around for she faced this voice everyday of her live. "What does it feel like… to marry I mean?" The speaker walked closer and placed his small hands on the railings, barely able to look over it properly.

"I don't know, I just feel confused," she sighed, knowing that Andre was looking up at her in adoration. 

"Do you mean you feel as if the world is so big and you're just one tiny thing?"

Stifling a giggled, Lucretzia nodded. "For a youngster, you understand so much and yet you feel trouble-free. I wish I were like you."

"I'm deeper than that Lu," he smiled. "In fact, I want to help everyone in this world and help those villagers who weren't as fortunate as us; to be born royalty. Perhaps if we're able to help them, we'll be able to work as a really, really big family where everyone is part of it. But I haven't worked out how I can help yet." Unable to contain the urge, Lucretzia ruffled His Highness' neatly combed hair. "Hey! Father made me sit for fifteen minutes while he decided how he wanted it, now you've gone and messed it up," he growled, swiping at his sister playfully.

"Sorry Your Highness, please forgive me," Lu teased. _He'll make a great king. I'm certain._

"Oi!" He glanced inside the ballroom and instantly hid in front of his sister as she herself leaned against the rail. Her brother crouched in front of her, with her puffy gown concealing him. "I'm not here, ok?"

Looking towards the ballroom, she noticed a young girl, no older than Andre approaching. She looked rather sweet in her light pink gown and her curly hair partly tied up with a ribbon. Politely, she walked up to Lucretzia and curtseyed before asking, "Your Highness, do you perchance know the whereabouts of Prince Andre?" The girl had a cute French accent which suited her perfectly.

"I'm sorry but I haven't seen him around. Perhaps he's out in the Garden with the other children," Lu replied in her kindest voice.

"Thank you, Your Highness," she curtseyed again and left, supposedly for the Garden which was a popular place for young children. 

"Is she gone?" Andre whispered. Once he received a positive answer, he crept out from his hiding spot and exhaled. "That was a close one. Lady Fayette's been after me ever since the ball started. I truthfully think she should be called Lyonette instead. She's more like a little lion than a fairy."

Lucretzia looked at him in disbelief and uttered, "You shouldn't say that, it's impolite. Of all the people to say it, you said it." _I need to rethink first before I confirm what I thought._

"Sorry," he said apologetically. "It's just that she's been chasing my tail for ages."

"Apology accepted. Now you go find Lady Fayette and ask her to dance or else I'll personally get her myself." Andre looked up at his sister and gave in and obliged, trudging back into the ballroom. Lucretzia smiled at his disappearing body before releasing a sigh.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

**_A/N: __Slightly longer because of the long wait. Please forgive me! I also had some trouble researching stuff on Italian marriage rituals but I found out about several interesting things such as the garter throw. Hilarious… I need a 'please insert review box' somewhere… *grumble* stomach's empty, must go eat, cyas! _**

_Chibi Tsuki~ ^.^_


	10. Leaving Soon

**A ****Palace**** of ****Disaster******

Chibi Tsuki

**_A/N: __Very short chapter ._**

****

Chapter 10

Leaving Soon

Walking upstairs wearily, Milliardo gripped the rails with his gloved hands. With slight difficulty, he hauled himself up the rest of the way and walked back to his own room. The hallway was lit up like always as he twisted his knob on his door and pushed it open. Instantly, the difference standing before him startled him. It was decorated with laces around the bed's higher frame, flowers placed neatly in a vase with colours consisting of mainly blue and white. There were several cards on the desk which he had recognised as wedding cards from closer relatives from both his and Lu's side. He lifted an eyebrow and flopped onto the bed, exhausted and worn out. A sweet heavenly aroma surrounded him and lulled him to a dreamless sleep. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lucretzia felt herself being dragged along by her rather persistent parents and father-in-law. She felt confused as they pulled her away from her own room and down towards the guest chambers. They had plonked her into front of Milliardo's room and pushed her into the room, closing the door behind her. _How can they do this to me? Lu frowned and turned on the lights. Behind the door, she could still hear the trio fussing like little children and the waiting for them to leave continued for a while. Eventually, they left her in peace. She stood still staring blankly at her fallen husband, looking cute in his sleep. Still in her wedding gown, she took off her shoes and placed them on the ground before attending to Milliardo. Surely one could not sleep properly with his shoes still tied onto his feet and his thicker layers still on. Lu had taken off his boots and helped him out of his suit before tucking him under the covers by heaving his body right up to the pillows. He was rather heavy and his platinum blonde hair flew everywhere as the wind blew through the door and into the room. Shutting the window, she glanced outside into the starry night, avoiding the temptation to walk outside once again. She sat at the desk for quite a long time, waiting for time to pass while the clock kept ticking. Barely keeping awake, she laid her head on the table, her arms proving to be a better cushion for her head than the wooden table top. Promising that she was only going to close her eyes for a short moment, the beautiful princess fell asleep. _

By the time her eyelids fluttered open, the morning light was already shining in on her, reminding her where she was. She glanced around and noticed Milliardo still sleeping like a little child on his bed, light spread over his handsome facial features. There was a small part of herself that praised his gentleness and charms, making her feel like a very lucky girl, but there was the majority of herself that sympathised her. _It must be the side-effects of have too much fruit punch. It was an excuse and she knew it but it truthfully made her feel slightly better. Opening the door, she walked out and quietly shut the door behind herself. It would be wise for her to change out of her gown and into some other clothes; probably some suitable clothes as her parents probably expected her at breakfast. When she walked into her own room, she sighed before closing the door, followed by the curtains. From her wardrobe, she selected a simple gown of blue and white colours. It wasn't as puffy as her wedding dress and the few creases on the dress indicated that it hadn't been worn for quite a while. Quickly she changed out of her wedding dress and placed her selected dress on her bed. A shower would be nice, not only because she wanted to feel clean and fresh, but because having a shower everyday had become a habit._

"Morning Mother," Lucretzia greeted as she walked downstairs, her left hand placed on the guiding rail.

"Morning Lucretzia," Adelie uttered as her daughter approached, looking subtly tired. She noted her dress and commented on her suitable and nice change of attire. Together the pair walked to the breakfast table to see half the table's occupants either still in bed or coming. Lu noticed Milliardo sitting at the table busily talking to his and her father. They seemed to be conversing about lands and improvements for the villagers. Just before she sat down next to her father, her mother ushered her out of the seat and next to Milliardo. Although reluctant, Lu obliged with a weak smile. 

"Morning Lu," Milliardo greeted as he offered her one of his most soothing smiles which, apparently didn't work this time. The girl merely uttered a reply and started collecting herself some bacon from the plate onto her own. Soon the children came piling into the room, wide awake from a long night's sleep chattering away to each other. Wanting to join them, Lucretzia fought herself mentally and managed to stay composed for the rest of the meal. 

"Princess Lucretzia," Naolan Peacecraft started, "we'll be leaving in a few days is it alright with you?" The question was more like a statement but the high-classed gentleman continued to keep his politeness. 

Unable, or more like it seemed like a crime to refuse, Lucretzia replied, "Yes sir and please, call me Lucretzia instead." So there wasn't much more time left until she would leave. There wasn't going to be much more to do and Sally too was going to leave soon; two days more to spend in Italy before returning home.

**_A/N: __I'm so sorry, but this is a really really short chapter because I won't have time to update every single story I meant to do before leaving on holidays which will be at the end of this week. I'm ashamed of myself but I promise that I'll try to write a bigger chapter next year when I return. I'm _****SO sorry, but there won't be an update for at least 5 weeks which means the next chapter won't come out until next year. . Forgive me?**

_Chibi Tsu_


	11. Amidst the Field of Lilies

**A ****Palace**** of ****Disaster******

Chibi Tsuki

**_A/N: __I'm back from my holidays! It was more tiring than exciting unless you call shopping everyday and having to walk from place to place exciting, then carrying the stuff ALL the way home. BUT, buying anime was definitely a good thing about where I went. Well anyway, I hope you enjoy this happier__ chapter. Does it make sense? Noin gets butterflies in her stomach ^.^_**

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Chapter 11

Amidst the Field of Lilies 

Scrambling upstairs in an unruly manner, Hilde tucked several paper-wrapped parcels between arms. The entire palace was as silent as a mouse, except for the occasional whispering between four children. They separated in different ways, scurrying about just as dawn was approaching. Andre skipped up the stairs behind his sister, with bits of blue, red and yellow streamers still in his short amber hair since Hilde had decided against telling him. "Come on, there's twenty more minutes. You go knock on Sally's door and I'll get Lu," she murmured to her brother and gestured at the two different routes to take. The younger of the two nodded and followed Hilde's orders without the slightest hesitation. He passed two closed doors on the left and tapped on first door on the right. A honey-blonde haired teenager opened the door already dressed and seemingly ready to go. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A familiar fragrance of lilies drifted through the room and lying asleep in her own bed was a wary teenager, her face conveying expressions Hilde had never recognised in her. For a moment Hilde felt that she had betrayed her sister for not being there, for not helping her. "I'm sorry Lu," she whispered into the silent night. Five minutes passed as she continued to stare at her until she realised that Lu had just woken. 

"Hilde, is there a problem?" Lucretzia asked, rubbing her eyes groggily. Her long thick hair caressed her left right cheek and her arms in a way that most men would drool over. 

Hilde shook her head and smiled. "You better get out of your pyjamas or else you'll miss what we have planned for you!" Quickly she ran into her sister's wardrobe and rummaged through the clothes in search of something suitable. She flung a pair of dark red-brown britches at Lu. A cream-coloured shirt and a long coat followed, landing mercilessly on Lucretzia's head. "Change quickly!" As her sister clumsily donned the clothes, she rushed into the bathroom and dampened a towel, wringing it twice. Water dribbled out of it, falling into the sink. Once satisfied, she handed the towel to Lu, letting her wipe her face with it. Lucretzia was one buttoning the shirt when Sally knocked softly on the door and entered, Andre behind her. 

"Good morning," Lucretzia greeted as she fitted on her coat. Dipping her head slightly in respect she responded too with the same words. "Ow!" The brushed tugged at her tangled hair. Another two tugs before the strands of hair disentangled, but unfortunately that was only a small portion of her hair. Hilde was working determinedly at her sister's hair, pulling it up into a high pony tail. 

"Where'd you chuck your gloves and boots?" the younger raven-haired teen asked as she began to search around in the wardrobe. "I can't find half of your clothes and your wardrobe seems a bit empty."

"They're all packed, the clothes remaining are the ones I'm leaving behind," Lu said softly and pointed to the trunks in the opposite corner of the room. "The boots are on the top with the rest of the gear." Slowly she stood up and walked towards the two neatly packed trunks and lifted the wooden lid. On the top of the pile of clothes were several pairs of shoes, including her riding gear which had been washed thoroughly before being packed away. She took them out and placed them on the floor, collecting the rest of the items before putting them on. Ready to leave, the four crept out of the room, closing the door behind them ever so silently. Stealthily they walked down the marble steps, passing through the dining room, to the kitchen and out of the building altogether. It was fortunate that the maids, cooks and servant woke at dawn and not before or else they would've been caught, well not exactly 'caught' but more or less sighted.

Quatre and Relena were waiting for them at the stables, dressed up in appropriate riding clothes. They looked no fancier than the other four who were wearing plain clothes too. "Good morning everyone," Quatre and Relena greeted in unison and entered the stable. Neighs sounded throughout the stable, the horses reached out muzzles for a stroke of even better, a scratch on their cheek. 

"Hilde, you still haven't told me where we're going," Lu stated as she greeted each horse individually with half a carrot each. Accepting her gift graciously, the horses left a present of slobber in return on her hands. She wiped her hand on a towel hanging by a door stable and placed her gloves on a table so that she could groom and saddle Twister without her gloves turning a different and darker colour. The stallion nickered as she approached, searching her hands for more treats but instead he found brushes in her hands. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Within fifteen minutes, the horses were ready to leave and in fact were becoming impatient when their riders put away the brushes donned their gloves. "I'm coming Callaba, if only you would stand still!" Hilde chided and nudged the horse over, away from the stable door. The horses filed out in an orderly manner. They mounted and urged the horses forward into a walk and soon into a steady-paced trot. 

They had been riding for nearly a full hour now and still they didn't seem to be reaching their destination wherever it was. But luckily Hilde did stop and call for a break; and so they spent ten minutes sitting on the logs just enjoying the serene surrounding them. "We should continue shouldn't we Hilde? Or else they- they… as..as in the horses will er… get tired and we too will be hungry," Relena uttered, trying to repair what she nearly mistakenly said.

"That's why we're having a break at the moment but I understand what you mean Relena," Hilde responded thoughtfully. "Let's go." Everyone obliged and once again mounted their horses, returning to their steady paced travelling. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The track, having not been used for over six years had become nearly invisible since the grass had grown so thick and tall that it reached knee-height. Twister quickly dipped his head and pulled a mouthful of grass out of its home within the soil, chewing heartily until Lu tightened slightly on his reins. Shining at her eyes, streams of sunlight blinded her momentarily. She brought a gloved hand up and shaded herself from the sun as she glanced around. It was such a beautiful sight. The flowers were attractive even though it was nearing the end of their blossoming and the birds were singing their songs, and she could often hear the scuttling of the tiny insects.

"We're here!" Hilde exclaimed, jumping off her horse before the others had time to react. She raced down the track which was overlapped by a small stream, only five metres wide at the most. The water was visibly clean and fresh for they could see the bottom. With its surface still and unbroken, it appeared to be shimmering. 

Once again Hilde was on her horse, riding the gelding through the water which now looked just as amazing as before. Across the water lay a stretch of lilies; these particular specimen called lily of the valley with their white, bell-shaped blossoms. Someone gasped then it changed, nearly sounding like a strangled choking sound. "Hilde! I can't believe you found this place!" Lucretzia squealed in delight as she sat deeply in the saddle, enthralled by the display. They dismounted, letting the horses roam and immediately, Hilde felt herself being lifted upwards whilst hearing chuckling laughter chorusing throughout the sky. Lucretzia gave her a peck on the cheek and placed her back down onto the ground again. "Thank you Hilde, this is absolutely… I don't even know how to describe it."

Shaking her head gently, the younger girl sighed, "I'm sorry to disappoint you but I didn't discover this place."

"It wasn't you?" 

"Nope."

Lucretzia felt rather foolish for a moment and then turned to look at Sally, directing a questioning glance at her. "I wasn't me Lu," Sally said innocently before she even asked. "No point asking them either," she added, gesturing at Quatre, Relena and Andre. 

"Then who was it?" Lu asked, confused.

A voice spoke up, alarming her instantly. "It was me."

"Milliardo?" she gasped again. Her heart was mysteriously pounding so heavily that she felt that she would faint. Milliardo stood in front of them, holding the reins of the grey stallion in one gloved hand. This time he didn't wear a suit like the previous expeditions but instead something simpler yet at the same time; stunning. His long, wavy, platinum hair tied up high much alike hers, with some longer strands that had fallen out of place dangling beside his ear. Ice blue eyes shone with such gentleness that could have easily melted any girl's heart away. Boldness and courage was depicted through his strong facial features, something that was ideal in a perfect gentleman, and here there was one who could be considered as hers. _Snap out of it Lu, why are you drooling over him?! He's the reason why you lost your freedom! No not exactly, he wasn't the one; her parents would've married her off to another anyway, perhaps to one who was much less considerate and cruel. _

"Good morning Lucretzia," he greeted her compassionately, his eyes sparkling as he spoke. "Good morning everyone." The sparkle in his eyes disappeared when he turned his head to face the others she barely managed to keep herself from stating this out aloud. 

Appearing from nowhere, Treize also greeted everyone, immediately startling her. She let out a cry and stood staring at Treize. "Where did you come from?" she asked slightly too timidly to be herself.

"Princess Lucretzia, you've broken my heart. You only have eyes for Milliardo and none for me," he bowed his head and whispered loud enough for his voice to be audible.

"I'm sorry Duke Kushrenada, I… I…" she stuttered. There were butterflies in her stomach and they where flying madly inside, not to mention that the look on her face was simply priceless.

Milliardo had somehow enclosed the distance between within seconds had placed a hand on her shoulder. "Stop teasing her Treize." A deep blush ran across her cheeks, an unfamiliar heat rose on her face, and so she instantly stared at her boots. Never had she experienced such emotions, well maybe when she was a mere child but this time it was different. Was she falling in… love? "You must be hungry, why don't we find a place and settle down for a picnic?"

A particular and unexpected voice agreed to the proposal. Everyone turned around to look curiously at Quatre, chuckling weakly. "I haven't eaten since last night. I sure am hungry." The group laughed, not unkindly but instead in a good-humoured fashion.  

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"This place is so beautiful, I can spend an entire day just sleeping among the lilies!" Relena admitted as she let herself flop into the flowers.

Hilde merely looked at her and uttered, "You've already spent half a day and the sky seems to be darkening already."

Agreeing with her, Sally said, "Hilde's right, we should be leaving now. It'll be fairly dark when we get back, and we didn't inform Lu's parents where we were going-" Treize intercepted her words, saying that he had already done that even though they hadn't officially received permission. 

"I'll carry the leftovers," Lucretzia offered, gathering the wrapped up food in a small piece of material. She called for her Twister who came enthusiastically, his head held high and elegantly. Without further delay, they packed up the rest of the gear and mounted their horses. Suddenly a piercing cry; that of a falcon, could be heard throughout a wide range of distance. 

"Is that Razer?" Andre asked, concentrating on the bird's cry. Lu nodded and prepared to lift out her arm for the falcon as it landed harshly on her arm. She let the pressure of the bird pull her arm down so that there was less impact and straining on her arm. She tickled the bird under its chin before launching it back into the air so that she could ride properly. "Father must've sent him out looking for us since we were taking so long."

Responding, Lu muttered, "Probably." 

The ride back to the palace was a lot less comfortable than the journey there, perhaps it was because of the dimming sunlight. Unfortunately the heart-warming sun had been hidden by the treetops which proved to be of no help. "I've forgotten something!" Lucretzia suddenly exclaimed as she frantically searched her pocket for a specific object. The ride halted as she clumsily tried to remember where she had left it. "I left it on a stump back there. I'll meet you all at the palace!" With that, she pulled Twister around and ordered him into a fast pace. Luckily she could still see the obstacles before her, as well as the bends and trees. 

After discussing for over five minutes, Milliardo decided to accompany Lucretzia just in case anything happened. The others had suggested that they went together as a group but then there was the problem of explaining to the two powerful kings if no one appeared. They just had to trust the pair to come back safely. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lucretzia scrambled off Twister and darted to the vaguely outlined tree stump. She picked up the forgotten item and gripped it tightly with her hand, enclosing it with her curled up fingers. Razer had followed her throughout the entire time and she could hear his wings beating around her as he tried to land on her arm again. Heading back to her stallion, she mounted the horse and slowly guided him back to the track. Suddenly there was a flash of lightening yet there wasn't even a drop of rain. But the sky did not look promising with the vivid outline of the clouds appearing above her.  

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

**_A/N: __Hehehe__… *scratches head* I'm sorry, it's a cliffhanger! Please don't kill me, or at least spare me so that I'll be able to write the next chapter. I'm positive you'll love what I have installed for Zechs and Noin in the next chapter; something that'll bring the pair closer._**


	12. Deep Feelings of Love?

**A ****Palace**** of **Disaster********

Chibi Tsuki

**_A/N: _**_Like every author, I absolutely LOVE reading reviews, and I'd like to thank all those who've reviewed my stories, sticking by this story from the beginning of chapter one. Also those who've just recently discovered that this fic exists on ff.n, I'd like to say thank you to them too. _

_As for the spelling of Noin's first name, Lucretzia/Lucrezia/Lucrenzia, I think it's all the same. Although at first when I started following ZxN fics, I was usually annoyed (well it just disturbed me a little) when I read the name differently, but as time passed, I decided that it didn't really matter. I hope those who read this fic and my other GW fics won't mind how I spell it, but I thank the reviewer who pointed this out anyway. I appreciate comments, compliments and less positive remarks (basically flames). They help me think of a way to improve my writing. Erm… I just seemed to have blabbered on a bit… ^.^;; Please, do read on._

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Chapter 12

Deep Feelings of Love?

Once again, thunder cracked, the loud booming noise causing the birds to cry. It was followed by a distinct flash of lightning, the yellow-white streaks breaking apart the blackness of the sky then fading once again. Lu could barely see in the darkness, now all she could do was trust her horse's and falcon's animal instincts which were more useful than her own at the current moment. Although horses were sensitive to such sudden sounds and visuals, the stallion managed to stay calm, having been trained with battle horses in the same fashion. He took steady steps, using his keen senses to survey his surroundings. He snorted once and moved on, his hard diamond hooves stomping on the soft dirt-covered ground. As predicted, the drops of water came streaming down the sky and soon multiplied even faster than the infectious pests; the rats that carried plagues around. "We've been following this trail for twenty minutes at least, but I haven't seen the forked road at all." Lucretzia thought aloud as she glanced around, peering cautiously. Her hair was becoming gradually soaked with water, and she had to constantly wipe the water off her face, brushing off the drops of water that had caught onto her eyelashes. Her coat too was becoming saturated as the rain began to pour harder, but she wasn't worried about herself, but instead her horse. It wouldn't be good if he became ill because of the sweat and rain. Without proper grooming and cleaning there may also be other problems and if anything happened to him, she couldn't possibly forgive herself. 'Be brave', the horse seemed to say when he swung his head to look at her and snorted softly. Her lips curved into a slight smile.

An hour had gone by and now the area didn't seem familiar at all for the place was dense with trees; the trail they were on before had disappeared. The rain had completely gone through her coat and now it felt as if it were only dragging her down. Wisps of hair were glued to her skin. "We should find shelter, it's too dangerous to go on," Lucretzia yelled over the rain, pulling him towards the rockier side of the place. She dismounted and led Twister over the steep side, walking between the trees with great caution. A sharp cry from above revived a little of her spirit; Razer had discovered something ahead. "We're close to shelter boy, only a little further," she whispered to the great horse, taking another step forward. Suddenly she slipped on the wet rock and fell, crashing onto the surface, knocking her head against the ground. Warm, red, sticky substances flowed from her head and spilled onto the grass. She had gone unconscious and what was a horse and falcon to do about that? Cry for help…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Milliardo hurried jumped off his horse and hurried to the meadow. Princess Lucretzia was nowhere to be found. He was certain that he hadn't passed her since he was on the original track the entire time, and yet there was no sign of her. "Lucretzia! Lucretzia, where are you!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, trying to beat the abrupt thundering of rain, pelting at him harshly. Where can she be? Frustrated, he ran back to his horse, mounted and swung him around, following the trail he came from. There was one possibility; she had taken the wrong trail at the fork, and where it led to, he didn't know. By the time he had reached the barely visible fork in the road, the rain was pouring badly but luckily he had worn his oilskin coat, which protected his body against the rain. His hair wasn't as fortunate though, but he wasn't in the mood to care about such minuscule thing at such a time. He glanced at the ground, noticing fresh hoof prints, only made several minutes ago. The water had already filled up the prints and was washing them away rather quickly, and that meant that he only had little time left until his only clues were turned into soggy mud. _Where _are_ you_ _Lu? We've only been together for a few days and I don't want us to be separated! What's this feeling? This jittery feeling in my body that makes me want to stare at her forever? A longing that makes me want to be beside her every minute and second. This time it's more than like; it may actually be love… He smiled warmly at his own thoughts. "Then let love guide me to her!" he roared, urging the stallion into a fast paced canter._

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A long time had gone by and Milliardo was still searching for his love, letting his instincts guide him through the thickening forest. The sky was completely black and only the moonlight led him through the trees. He was getting weary, his ride was exhausted and now that they were at a disadvantage it seemed impossible to find her. But Milliardo Peacecraft was determined. He had given her the ring and sworn to his vows; never to leave her side. Although he was hesitant at first, now he was serious about it and would do anything to find her. When all his efforts seemed to be in vain, hope struck him in the face. "Ahh," he groaned, in slight pain. A creature had literally hit him in the face. There were feathers, beaks, a shrieking cry and claws, causing chaos around his head. "Razer?" he asked but the creature continued to thrash about. Realising what it was demanding, Milliardo held out an arm and clenched his teeth as the falcon's sharp claws grasped onto his arm; piercing into his skin. But sacrificing a bit of blood for the bird's calmness was worth it. Razer had definitely stopped his flapping and instead starting pecking at his coat sleeve in a peculiar fashion. It then launched into the air again as if beckoning him to follow, which he did after dismounting his stallion and guiding him through the narrow trail that wasn't even a proper trail. 

The falcon kept waiting for him, sometimes perched on a branch and returning to the air once he'd caught up. This kept on for ten minutes at least until they came to a slippery area where he took great caution when leading the grey stallion and himself. Ahead he noticed the faint outline of a stallion. It was Lu's stallion Twister which meant that Lu had to be nearby. He approached Twister with relief until the horse had threatened to bite him, jerking its head high with its ears lying flat against its skull. The horse didn't seem happy and that was definitely not good. Milliardo was safe ten steps away without being snapped at by the creature which never left its position, holding its ground on that small slope with rocks that were glimmering wet. "Whoa boy, there's no need to be afraid," he murmured softly while trying to close the distance between them. "Calm boy, calm." Again Twister aimed at Milliardo's outstretched hand, barely missing if it weren't for the man's fast reflexes. 

Suddenly Razer pecked at the stallion's ear; enough to hurt. The stallion flung his head at the bird but luckily wasn't able to score a hit. Milliardo walked forward again and this time the stallion seemed to have no intention of hurting him. His ears were perked forward again, being sensitive to his surroundings and surprisingly backed away when he came; revealing an unconscious figure lying on the ground while the rain constantly poured. A realisation came to him and he immediately picked up the limp body. It was too dark for him to see but he knew that she was wounded. He could feel the sticky liquid on his fingertips, and the smell gave it away as to what it was. _Shelter, I must find shelter and light a fire! _

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He had followed bird and horse to a dry cave that was no deeper than three or four metres. Actually it was more like an indent in the rock that may have been from previous beginnings of trying to mine the area for whatever minerals. But the hole was as tall as three metres, tall enough to allow the horses in although both creatures preferred to stay under the shelter of trees instead. Milliardo had released them the pain of having the saddles on the back and they lay dumped at the back of cave as backrests after being wiped dry with the inside of the waterproof saddlebags. Luckily Lucretzia had offered to take the leftover food and wrapped them tightly in a cloth. There were several uneaten apples, three and a half slices of bread, two scones and two halves of a salad sandwich, and after rummaging through his own saddlebags he had realised that someone had packed into his, several carrots and a flask of fresh water; filled to the rim.  

Lucretzia had been soaked through to the last layer of her clothes, constantly shivering. He had peeled off her layers of clothing and let them dry by the fire while she wore his oilskin coat. Her wound was a different matter; it wasn't too deep and the blood had been blocked from flowing a short while after she was injured. But there was always a possibility that it was infected. Her arm too had been grazed but it was a minor compared to the head injury.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"My head hurts," she moaned as she clumsily tried to sit up. 

"Slow down Lu," Milliardo said as he immediately came to support her, and that was when she opened her eyes to survey her surroundings. "You should lie down and rest longer. Your clothes are still drying beside the fire." He gestured towards her clothes.

Lucretzia immediately blushed and stammered in saying her gratitude. She had realised what he had done but chose not to say anything about it, knowing that it would just take them into a more embarrassing situation. If he hadn't wrapped her in her coat she would've been stark naked, but she trusted him to be the gentleman he was. Had she been looking at him, she would've seen the furious red blush that had boarded his manly facial features. Slowly she brought a hand to her head and noticed a cloth wrapped tightly around her head with her bangs covering most of it. 

"You fell and hit yourself on the head. I found you unconscious a short while after and brought you to this place. We'll been heading back to the palace once the sun rises so you should catch up on some sleep," he suggested as he returned to waving her damp clothes over the fire. "Unless you're hungry." He directed a comforting smile towards her and picked up the salad sandwich he had deliberately left for her. "There's some bread land scones left if you're still hungry."

"What about you?"

"I had an apple."

"Have a half of this sandwich Milliardo, you must be starving."

The young gentleman shook his head while keeping that smile of his all the time. 

"If you don't then I won't eat until you do."

He was speechless. Lucretzia sure knew how to manipulate him and he was definitely grateful that he was on her side. Obediently he gobbled down the half of the sandwich, and once she was satisfied, she too nibbled on her sandwich. There was a long silence for quite a while until Milliardo spoke. "I like you this way Lu. I like you being who you are, not who you pretend to be in order to reach your parents' expectations." _Say it now Milliardo, be brave!  _"I-"

Her giggles interrupted him and she muttered, "I never would've expected you of all people to say that. You don't seem to be the one to express yourself."

"I don't?" She nodded and leaned over to peck him softly on the cheek and stroked the recent scratch on his forehead with the tips of her fingers before snuggling in for some sleep. "Good night Lu," he whispered, still staring at her back until he tore his eyes away and looked into the fire, his fingers touching the place where she kissed him. This time she had _meant_ to kiss him.  

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

**_A/N:_**_ I'm sorry for the late update. I didn't mean to be a whole month late but I've been pretty busy ever since the start of school. We're beginning to get homework everyday so I don't get to go online for more than an hour a day, usually less. I can't promise the next update to be really soon but as I've said, I will continue this fic to the very end! Arigatou mina-san!_


	13. The Final Statement

**A ****Palace**** of ****Disaster******

Chibi Tsuki

**_A/N: _**_This will be the last chapter of the entire fic. Please enjoy!_

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Chapter 13

The Final Statement

Most of the rain had subsided by the time they woke up. There were only drops left and fortunately there was sunlight streaming through the leaves. Milliardo ate his breakfast, facing the front while Lucretzia changed into her dried clothes behind him. When she was changed, she placed the coat beside him thankfully, smiling in appreciation. She had originally thought the coat had belonged to herself but realised that her own had been totally drenched and Milliardo had wrapped her in his own warm coat. The tall blond smiled back, never wanting to take his icy blue eyes away from his wife's sparkling blue ones. "Lu, are you ready to head back to the palace?" he asked casually, still staying seated until she gave him a soft 'yes'. He stood up and searched for the horses while she waited for his return, munching delightedly on a scone. It had become slightly soggy from earlier on and there were traces of it being nibbled by mice but she merely broke off the pieces and laid them on the ground by a crack in the cave wall. Lucretzia once again slipped her hand into her pocket, double-checking to see that the object was still there, and once satisfied, she relaxed and began to collect the saddlebags, and wrapped the remaining scone into a tea towel. Returning, the young prince approached her, holding the reins of both stallions in his hands, a confident smile on his face. "Saddle up and we're ready to go," he uttered before beginning to saddle the horses. "Razer is perching on one of the branches outside." As Lu tried to stand up, he immediately went to assist her. 

"I feel slightly faint."

"Sit down and stay still until we're ready to go. Don't hurry yourself, it's just probably from the loss of a little blood." Directing a reassuring smile at her, he returned to adjust the girth straps. Once he was done, he gathered the saddle bags and swung them around his shoulders. "I'll help you onto your horse." He lifted her into her arms and supported her as she mounted the stallion. "Sit tight Lu." Milliardo swung up behind her, startling her a little. "Twister and I get along now, don't we boy?" The stallion snorted as if he understood Milliardo's words. Slowly gathering Twister's reins, Milliardo supported Lu, letting her lean backwards into his embrace, his arms wrapped around her body protectively. "Let's go," the Prince of Sank muttered. Both stallions and falcon followed his instructions obediently, travelling together at a moderately fast pace.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lucretzia gasped softly when Milliardo mounted onto Twister; she was still slightly unsure and dizzy from her previous fall the night before. Her head was pounding and somehow she fell back against Milliardo's chest. She could hear his heart beating. It was so comforting although she didn't have an explanation as to why, it just did. Snuggling against his chest she sighed comfortably, her headache forgotten. Although the ride was rather bumpy, Lucretzia had managed to fall asleep with the slightest difficulty. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

An hour had past by and they were finally back on the original track, the one they were supposed to be on. Milliardo understood how Lu managed to get on the wrong track, now that he could clearly see the tight gap that was the original trail back to the palace and the wider opening of the other misleading track. He smiled at the sleeping princess and felt her forehead; it was much cooler now, thankfully. Savouring the moment, pulled her closer to him and softly kissed her on the cheek. _I wish we could be like this forever. There was something clutched tightly in her fist, making it extremely tempting to open her enclosed hand. Of course he ignored it and continued to look up at the track in front of him, staring at the trees and foliage before him. _

"Milliardo!" Sally yelled as she approached them, riding at a furious pace on her horse. She halted beside him and looked straight at Lu. "You guys didn't come back last night, everyone was really worried." Suddenly she gave him an evil glare that gave Milliardo shivers down his spine. "I hope you didn't take advantage of her without her consent, even _if you are married to her," she said bluntly. But then her facial expressions relaxed immediately, turning into a smile. "You're a gentleman and we all know that." Then she noticed the messily wrapped up wound. "What happened when you two were out there?" The blond immediately became serious, his eyebrows knotted and his icy blue eyes cold. _

"I'll explain later, we must get back to the palace and treat her wound first."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

By the time they reached the palace it was nearly midday with the sun rising higher and higher. The horses couldn't go any faster than a walk because Lu was still asleep which was actually better than watching her suffer. They immediately took her back to her room so that she could rest on the comfort of her bed. Also, they had summoned a doctor to treat her wounds, cleaning out the infected areas and applying bandages to them afterwards. He had also proscribed some medicine: sleep, sleep and more sleep. It was a key ingredient in recovering and the doctor had insisted that they delayed the trip back to the Sank Kingdom. But that had caused much distress for King Naolan Peacecraft as it was necessary for him to return on that day; he had serious matters to attend to back at his own nation. 

"Father, can Relena and I stay for another week until Lu recovers?" Milliardo pleaded in distraught. His sister stood beside him, feeling the same agitation her brother felt. At first he had suggested leaving Lucretzia to recover and later send for her while they returned to the Sank Kingdom. Naolan felt that it was time to teach Milliardo about politics when he returned and that was planned before they had arrived in Italy. But now there were problems ahead; involving his own people at home. 

"Silence!" Naolan ordered, slamming a fist onto the table. "Both of you, be quiet while I think."

"But Father, we want to be with Lu as she gets better. It's only a small issue. Can't you let us stay for a while longer?" Relena argued and pouted. Her honey-blond hair swayed slightly as she crossed her arms.

Once again the older man cast an angry glare at them, frightening them slightly. Their shiver made him burst into a friendly chuckle, and he muttered, "You two are hopeless. Can't you even tell when your father is teasing you?" Abruptly the two siblings grinned at each other and at their father.

"You seemed so angry that we thought you were serious about leaving Lucretzia behind," Milliardo uttered in relief.

The middle-aged man shrugged and smiled at his children. "I had been thinking about that, but right now I know that she needs you two beside her and more importantly your support Milliardo." 

"Yes Father."

Suddenly Naolan's face turned serious as he jerked his head away from their view. "Lucretzia may need to rest for over a week and while you stay here with the Noin's, I want you two be on your best behaviour. They will treat you kindly and in return, you two will be chivalrous instead of giving them even more trouble. They have been very generous to let us stay with them for this long. I will be leaving within several hours. Excuse me now, King Noin has come to converse with me." He turned around again, smiling at the visitor at his door. Milliardo and Relena excused themselves, retreating from the room to find Lucretzia's room. They met Treize as they approached the corridor, eager to know Lu's condition. Together they stepped inside the room, turning to the patient on the bed, but to their distress there was none. Rushing out of the room, the three trampled down the stairs in the most undignified way. One of head chambermaids stopped them and told them off for running like rowdy children. The three, red-faced, walked out of the palace with their heads bowed. Only ten minutes ago, Milliardo and Relena had been told by their father to behave sensibly and just then, they were rampaging within the building. It was a pretty shameful sight. 

"How can she do this to us?" Treize asked with a sigh. 

"Where do you think she's gone?" Relena asked, fiddling with her loose strands of hair. She glanced at her brother, and following the direction of his eyes, she too looked up at the pale clouds drifting slowly across her vision. "Milliardo?"

"There's nothing to worry about Relena, she's pretty safe where she is," her blond-haired brother replied, a pleasant smile forming across his face. 

"How do you know?"

"I just know."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lucretzia heaved herself out of the bed and made her way towards the balcony. The wind blew at her, chilling her slightly and so she wrapped her arms around herself. Her bare feet padded along the now cold cement floor, until she came in contact with the railings. She pulled herself onto it, stepping up onto the bottom horizontal bar. Suddenly she heard her door creek open, three pairs of legs walked in. As she turned to see who it was, she realised that the curtain was blocking her view. But as she was about to walk over, they had already fled from the room in great hurry. _I wonder who that was. It definitely wasn't the maids. Perhaps… She smiled at the thought and after deciding that it was getting too cold for her, she entered her room and hurried back into her bed, discovering that warmth within her doona was rapidly escaping. "I wonder if I actually love h-" _

The door knocked softly, followed by the subtle creak of its hinges as the door was pushed open again. A red-brown-haired individual appeared in between the open gap. "Lu, are you feeling better?" Andre asked worriedly as he stepped further into the room. 

"I'm perfectly fine, only a bit tired."

"'You're not leaving today are you?" Lu shook her head and gestured for him to come closer. "Good, because I _don't want you to leave!" He bounced onto her bed and wrapped his thin arms around her waist, clinging onto her dearly as if she would disappear at any moment. Lucretzia returned the embrace, hugging him just as tightly. _

_Even if we don't part today, we'll part some other day. It may seem to be a bad thing, but being away from each other reveals our deepest love for one another. _"How about having some lunch? I'm a bit hungry at the moment."

"Let me be of service and call upon some lunch!" he once again bounced off the bed and walked sensibly out of the room, searching for one of the chambermaids. While he was gone, Lu wondered to herself whether she was actually ready to leave her home for sixteen years. _But whatever adventure's ahead, I'm ready to accept!_

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Later that night, she grabbed all her blankets and sat down at the closed glass doors, looking out into the midnight sky. She looked up at the round moon and the sparkling star surrounding it. Space was just so amazing and that was a fact she couldn't deny. The door opened and a figure stepped in carefully. "Lu?"

"I'm here," she said softly, noticing the shadow of a tall person approaching her. Slowly the person sat down beside her, a short distance away from her. 

"There was something I wanted to tell you last night, but I never got the chance to say it." The moonlight shone onto his blond hair making it a silvery colour. Lucretzia turned to look at her husband and waited for him to go on. It wasn't as if she was totally oblivious to what he was about to say, but she felt calm and collected inside. 

Milliardo felt his heart pound; he had to admit it now, he'd fallen for her. It wasn't a physical thing as to why he liked her; it wasn't because of male-minded thoughts or because she was just so attractive but in fact he had discovered his love for her opinions, her actions and her in general. It was only three words, only three words that made him so nervous and jittery. _Say it now, say it proud! _"I love you Lu, I love you from the bottom of my heart." When he saw her expression change he gave her a comforting smile. "I don't want you to reply, I just want you to know, to know that whatever you do I'll be by your side forever."

They sat together in silence for over ten minutes, both wondering. Ten minutes had passed, and still they were silent. "Lu?" When Milliardo received no reply, he repeated her name again, but there was still no response. He glanced at her, realising that she had fallen asleep while being huddled inside her blankets. Gently he picked her up and placed on the bed, tucking her neatly under them again. Again he couldn't resist smiling and stroked her cheek softly before leaving the room. A hand instantly grabbed onto his wrist, clinging onto him with a death grip. He tried to pry her hand open but it was difficult when he didn't want to wake her up. In the end he spent the night sleeping by her bed, his wrist held firmly.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Morning came pretty quickly and the first thing Milliardo realised when he woke was that he had ended up sleeping on her bed. He sat up and looked around the room, but once again she had vanished. She must've pulled him onto the bed when she woke up, realising that he was asleep on the floor. Immediately he jumped out of the bed, realising that it was still dark. Where had she disappeared to again? It was pretty frustrating just searching for her blindly. "You're awake," a voice murmured. 

"Huh?" Milliardo looked towards the balcony, noticing a figure leaning against the rails. He relaxed and walked over to her. She was dressed in a big coat, her pyjamas hidden underneath. "The sun is rising."

"Yes, isn't it lovely? It is one of my favourite things, watching the sun rise." Silently he agreed with her, staring at the enlarging fiery ball just behind the horizon. "I love you."

"What?" Milliardo asked, startled.

"I love you, I love you just as much as I love space and watching the sun rise, and perhaps even more than that."

"I-" Suddenly he smiled at her and glanced at her closed fist. He opened them and took the item she had been holding and held it up to her. It was the ring he had given her during their wedding. She had gone back to retrieve it when she realised that she had forgotten it, and had been keeping it with her ever since. "Will you marry me as my beloved wife?"

"I do and I already am, ever since I said those three words, 'I love you'," she replied as he slipped the ring onto her finger. Lu slipped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her. She rubbed noses with him just before he pulled her into a passionate kiss.

~The End~

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Ow… Milliardo, when was the last time you shaved?"

**_A/N: _**_At last, it's finished! Hehehe… I just couldn't resist adding the last part in. It was a must have! Thank you everyone for being so supporting, I couldn't have done it without everyone's reviews! *does a little dance*_

_One last disclaimer: I'm only a poor high school student who scabs the leftovers from other people… so why would I own GW? If I did, I'd be eating like a pig at the moment. ^.^_

_Chibi Tsuki_


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